GOTAMA  BUDDHA 


TrtE  PRINCIPAL  COUNTRIES 
OF  ANCIENT    INDIA 

English   Miles 


,.t  „W5T  OF,  CITIES  INDICATED  BY  NUMERALS 

^.ravsCtS  ,«  ,*  ,'5.',QrIavasti  (Savatthi)  9.   Mathura  13.  Prayaga 

2.  Ayodhya  6.   Indraprastha  10.   Mithila  14.  Takshagila 

3.  Bhrigu-kaccha     7.   KanchI  11.   Pataliputra  15.  Ujjayini 

4.  Cakala  8.   Kanyakubja  12.   Pratishthana  16.  VaijayantI 


GOTAMA  BUDDHA 

A  BIOGRAPHY 

(Based  on  the  Canonical  Books  of  the  Theravadin) 

KENNETH  J.  SAUNDERS 

Literary  Secretary ,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  India,  Burma,  and 

Ceylon.      Author   of   "The   Story    of  Buddhism," 

'  'Buddhist  Ideals. ' '      Editor  of ' '  The  Buddha's  Way 

of  Virtue, "  "The  Heart  of  Buddhism' ' 


ASSOCIATION    PRESS 

Nbw   York  :    347   Madison  Avbnub 
1920 


S3 


Copyright,  1920,  by 

The  International  Committee  of 

Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


To 

DR.  JOHN  R.  MOTT 

This  Little  Book  Is  Dedicated, 

in  the  Hope  that  It  May  Prove  One  More  Link 

in  the  Chain  He  Is  Forging 

between  East  and  West. 


519039 


FOREWORD 

Buddhism  is  far  from  dead ;  for  while  corrupt  and  quiescent 
in  many  places  it  still  has  vitality  enough  to  dominate  the  life 
of  hundreds  of  millions,  and  must  be  reckoned  with  for  dec- 
ades to  come.  Summoned  out  of  the  mists  of  2,000  years 
of  myth  and  dogma,  in  Mr.  Saunders's  life  of  Gotama  Bud- 
dha the  man  Gotama  stands  and  breathes  again  as  in  our 
very  presence.  We  feel  his  warm  humanness,  his  magnetic 
sympathy,  his  thirst  after  truth,  and  his  pathetic  failure, 
after  all,  to  find  the  secret  of  life  that  is  life  indeed.  As 
Mr.  Saunders  has  said  elsewhere,  "Here  was  a  man  who, 
without  setting  up  an  elaborate  organization,  despising 
wealth,  and  trusting  only  to  the  contagion  of  great  ideas, 
exerted  an  influence  which  is  still  potent  in  the  hearts  of  half 
the  human  race." 

The  volume  is  captivating  in  its  combination  of  scholarly 
accuracy  with  undisguised  admiration  for  the  majestic  char- 
acter of  Gotama.  And  he  must  be  an  unresponsive  reader 
who  is  not  enabled  by  this  study  to  rise  above  prejudice  and 
recognize  in  Gotama  one  of  the  world's  noblemen,  a  rare 
lover  of  his  kind,  a  hater  of  sham,  a  seeker  after  the  un- 
known God.  The  students  of  North  America — and  of  other 
lands — are  fortunate  indeed  to  have  such  a  volume  written 
for  them.  It  will  grant  them  audience  of  one  of  the  king- 
liest  spirits  of  all  time.  And  if  a  liberal  education  be  the  ac- 
quiring of  capacity  to  hold  fellowship  with  master  spirits,  then 
persons  who  aspire  to  be  liberally  educated  will  welcome  this 
book.  Gotama  should  be  known  also  by  those  who  wish  to 
understand  one  of  the  titanic  forces  of  our  own  day  as  well  as 
of  antiquity.  In  our  pitiable  provincialism  we  have  been 
content  to  label  him  a  visionary  ascetic  or  an  unsocial  atheist, 
and  to  ignore  the  fact  that  he  has  been  the  chief  artificer 
of  East  Asian  civilization  and  the  contributor  of  some  of  its 
finest  features. 

The  analytical  summary  of  contents  and  the  footnotes  add 
to  the  value  of  the  volume  for  the  advanced  student  as  well 


viii  Foreword 

as  for  the  beginner.  The  style  carries  the  thought  with 
limpid  ease  and  at  times  ripples  with  genial  humor.  Atten- 
tion is  purposely  focused  upon  the  life  of  Gotama,  with  only 
incidental  references  to  the  Teaching  and  the  Order,  but  for- 
tunately these  subjects  are  fully  set  forth  in  Mr.  Saunders's 
earlier  studies,  "The  Story  of  Buddhism"  and  "Buddhist 
Ideals,"  as  well  as  in  many  standard  works. 

Buddhism  has  well-nigh  died  out  in  Gotama's  own  coun- 
try and  the  forms  which  prevail  in  Tibet,  China,  Korea,  and 
Japan  would  hardly  be  recognized  by  the  founder  himself. 
Yet  his  example  and  teaching,  however  distorted,  are  the 
nucleus  around  which  all  the  later  encrustations  have  formed. 
Just  as  the  Christian  Church  has  dug  down  through  the  layers 
of  scholastic  dialectic  and  replanted  its  pillars  on  Christ,  so  it 
is  not  inconceivable  that  even  Northern  Buddhism  may  re- 
discover its  founder  and  cry,  "Back  to  Gotama  Buddha." 

It  was  a  Japanese  disciple  of  Gotama  who  called  him  "a 
king  of  the  spiritual  in  the  mask  of  beggary,"  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  this  volume  will  find  readers  also  in  Japan,  for 
although  there  are  several  lives  of  Buddha  written  in  Jap- 
anese, no  one  of  them  so  happily  as  this  combines  a  popular 
presentation  with  the  results  of  recent  historical  criticism. 

Although  Mr.  Saunders  discloses  warm  admiration  for 
Gotama's  character,  as  a  faithful  friend  he  points  out  his 
shortcomings  and  his  fatal  inability  to  rise  above  the  limita- 
tions of  his  age.  It  would  seem  that  Gotama  himself  realized 
to  some  degree  his  own  limitations.  Like  other  prophetic 
souls,  he  looked  for  the  coming  of  a  Buddha  greater  than 
himself,  who  should  be  called  Maitri.  Mr.  Saunders's  fine 
poem,  "St.  Francis  and  Gotama,"  shows  true  insight  when  it 
represents  Gotama  as  joyfully  recognizing  that  in  Christ  his 
highest  hopes  regarding  Maitri  had  been  fully  realized. 

Mr.  Saunders  might  well  have  called  his  work,  "The 
Gotama  of  History,"  for  it  is  not  an  unworthy  companion 
to  Doctor  Glover's  notable  volume  on  One  greater  than 
Gotama.  Christian  readers  will  not  be  surprised  to  find  that 
Mr.  Saunders's  exhaustive  and  appreciative  study  of  Gotama 
seems  to  have  heightened  his  supreme  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Galen  M.  Fisher. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword vii 

Introduction 1 

Still  much  confusion  as  to  the  biography  of 
Gotama : 

(a)  No  authentic  chronology. 

(b)  Much  literary  criticism  still  to  be  done. 
The  sources : 

(a)  Scriptures. 

(b)  Monuments. 

I.  The  Early  Life  of  Gotama        .....        6 

The  early  civilization  of  Buddhist  India: 

(a)  Political  divisions. 

(b)  Social  life. 

The  birth  of  Gotama;  his  childhood;  formative  in- 
fluences; education  in  religion  and  in  politics.  His 
marriage  and  heritage.  His  desire  to  serve  his  peo- 
ple; the  great  adventure. 

II.  Quest  and  Conquest 17 

The  spirit  of  his  quest.  The  method  of  its  accom- 
plishment. 

(a)  Visit  to  Rajagaha. 

(b)  Solitary  vigil  at  Uruvela  and  ascetic  practices. 

(c)  The  return  to  more  normal  life. 

(d)  The  dawn  of  enlightenment  at  Budhgaya. 

Its  meaning  and  the  doctrine  of  Nibbana,  which 
Gotama  based  upon  it: 

(a)  As  understood  by  the  masses. 

(b)  As  interpreted  by  the  initiated. 


x  Contents 

PAGE 

Gotama's  doctrine  of  the  "self,"  and  his  agnosticism 
as  to  certain  great  metaphysical  problems. 

Gotama's  mission ;  he  meets  the  Jain  monk  Upaka ; 
he  visits  his  five  pupils  and  preaches  a  sermon  to 
them.  The  "Golden  Mean,"  and  the  "Noble  Eight- 
Fold  Path."  His  second  discourse,  and  manner  of 
preaching:  the  meagerness  of  the  records.  His  third 
sermon  more  like  real  preaching.  Sending  out  of 
the  first  disciples. 

III.  GOTAMA    AT    THE    HEIGHT    OF    HlS    POWER     .  .  34 

The  success  of  their  mission  and  some  reasons  for 
it.  Conversion  of  the  two  leaders,  Moggallana  and 
Sariputta;  Kassapa,  another  notable  convert,  and 
some  humbler  folk. 

Gotama  visits  his  home  and  converts  his  family. 
Ananda  and  other  relatives  join  him. 

Some  notable  lay  adherents.  Gotama  as  peace- 
maker.    Admission  of  women  to  the  Sangha. 

Some  flies  in  the  ointment: 

(a)  Criticism  of  the  people  of  Magadha. 

(b)  Temptations  to  skepticism  and  to  worldly 
power. 

(c)  Disloyalty  within  the  Order,  and  some  attacks 
from  without;  the  rival  sects. 

The  ruling  princes  of  Magadha  and  Kosala; 
Gotama's  dealings  with  them  and  his  method  with 
lay  people. 

The  dubious  chronology  of  the  records. 

IV.  The  Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  His  Disciples  .       49 

The  organization  of  the  Sangha,  a  gradual  growth : 

(a)  The  institution  of    Vassa: 

(b)  The  daily  routine. 

The  Sangha  a  strange  democracy;  the  higher  truths 
confined  to  them.    The  method  of  ordination. 


Contents  xi 

PAGE 

Gotama's  versatility  in  dealing  with  men,  e.g.  King 
Agnidatta,  the  farmer  Bharadvaja,  a  bereft  mother, 
and  a  sorrowing  grandmother. 

A  moonlight  idyll  of  the  monastic  life.     The  ap- 
pointment of  Ananda  as  personal  attendant.     The  un- 
ruly monks. 

V.  The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama         .         .       63 

Gotama  and  the  parricide,  Ajatasattu.  Devadatta's 
"black  magic"  and  schism.  The  sorrows  of  Gotama 
the  Aged.  His  meeting  with  a  contemporary.  The 
tribute  of  a  modern  Indian  and  of  a  modern  Japanese 
disciple. 

The  last  days  and  passing  of  Gotama;  his  relics; 
the  date  of  his  death. 

VI.  The  Secret  of  Gotama     .....       75 

His  profound  and  far-reaching  influence  due  to 

(a)  His  personal  magnetism. 

(b)  His  sane  and  strong  moral  teaching. 

(c)  His  position  as  a  warrior-chief. 

(d)  The    essential    democracy    of    the    Sangha. 

(e)  Their  earnestness  and  joyous  conviction. 

The  estimate  of  the  early  disciples;  growing  devo- 
tion to  his  person.  Did  he  encourage  it?  Yes  and 
no;  he  put  loyalty  to  his  teaching  first. 

Gotama  as  both  surgeon  and  physician;  some  ex- 
amples of  dry  humor. 

VII.  Gotama  as  Teacher 86 

Gotama  primarily  a  teacher  of  morals;  his  diagno- 
sis of  the  world's  illness;  his  method  of  cure: 

(a)  Clear  thinking  and  right  analysis. 

(b)  Moral  zeal. 

Discussion  of  this  method ;  appreciation  of  the  ends 
to  which  he  used  it: 

(a)  To  cast  out  anger. 

(b)  To  cure  lust. 


xii  Contents 

PAGE 

The  method  of  analysis  psychologically  studied. 
The  Four  Noble  Truths. 

The  higher  ranges  of  his  teaching.  A  radical  de- 
fect: no  true  conception  of  God.  Gotama  and  Free 
Will. 

Summary:  Gotama  partially  mistaken,  yet  himself 
an  embodiment  of  the  divine  quality  of  love. 

Appendix  I.    St.  Francis  and  Gotama     .         .         .     103 

A  dialogue  in  which  the  Christian  and  the  Buddhist 
ways  are  compared  and  contrasted. 

Appendix  II.    Notes  on  Nibbana        ....     108 
Appendix  III.    Two  Ideals  in  the  Pali  Books       .     Ill 


INTRODUCTION 

After  the  lapse  of  twenty-five  centuries  Gotama  Buddha's 
influence  is  still  a  mighty  power  in  the  world.  That  an 
Indian  monk,  embracing  poverty  and  the  celibate  life,  writ- 
ing no  book,  and  setting  up  no  hierarchy,  should  so  pro- 
foundly sway  the  destinies  of  a  continent  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  facts  of  history.  And  the  modern  world,  with  its 
passionate  belief  in  organization  and  in  wealth,  may  learn 
much  from  Gotama.    Yet  he  is  still  strangely  misunderstood. 

"There  is  perhaps  no  person  in  history  in  regard  to  whom 
have  arisen  so  many  opinions  that  are  either  wholly  or  partly 
false,"  says  Dr.  Hopkins.1 

"In  Buddhism,"  says  de  la  Vallee  Poussin,  "it  is  possible 
to  make  but  few  statements  of  which  the  opposite  may  not  be 
affirmed  and  proved."2 

These  sayings  express  very  truly  the  confusion  which  still 
exists  both  as  to  the  person  of  Gotama,  and  as  to  his  essential 
teachings — a  confusion  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  there  exists 
no  early  biography  of  him,  and  partly  to  the  still  more 
remarkable  fact  that  literary  criticism  of  Buddhist  books 
has  made  very  little  progress,  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  today 
to  determine  what  are  the  authentic  teachings  of  the  Founder 
of  Buddhism. 

In  a  sense  it  is  very  remarkable  that  no  early  biography 
exists;  for  circumstances  were  ideal  for  the  production  of 
a  lifelike  record  of  Gotama's  words  and  ways.  What  the 
"faithful  hound"  Boswell  was  to  Dr.  Johnson,  that  Ananda, 
"the  sage  of  the  tireless  ministry,"  might  have  been  to 
Gotama;  for  he  followed  him,  as  he  claims,  "like  a  shadow," 
and  had  daily  opportunities  throughout  a  long  life  of  service 


1  Hopkins,  "Religions  of  India,"  p.  299. 
2"Bouddhisme:    Opinions,"    p.    189. 


2  Gocama  Buddha 

to  study  his  master.  Why  did  Ananda  fail  to  do  this  price- 
less service  to  humanity? 

Dr.  Oldenberg,  to  whom  students  of  Buddhism  owe  so 
much,  argues  that  "the  idea  of  biography  was  foreign  to  the 
mind  of  that  age"  and  that  "in  those  times  the  interest  of 
the  life  of  the  Master  receded  entirely  behind  the  interest 
attached  to  his  teaching"  ;3  he  shows,  too,  that  neither  in  the 
case  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  nor  in  that  of  Socrates  was  a 
biography  in  the  ordinary  sense  handed  down. 

Yet,  even  if  we  could  not  expect  Ananda  to  write  biography 
as  Boswell  wrote  it,  it  would  have  been  an  enormous  gain 
if  he  had\  written  "Memorabilia"  like  Xenophon,  or  better 
still,  a  gospel  "like  Luke  the  physician"  ! 

Instead  of  that,  he  and  the  brethren  seem  to  have  handed 
on  oral  accounts  of  their  Master's  teaching,  more  or  less 
stereotyped,  but  containing  biographical  material  from  which 
the  modern  editor  must  select.  And  this  has  been  faithfully 
recorded  in  the  Pali  Books.  In  studying  them  the  modern 
editor  at  once  becomes  aware  that  he  is  debtor  to  a  long 
series  of  others  who  have  attempted  the  task,  and  though 
none  of  them  can  be  called  biographies  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
they  have  preserved  much  that  is  of  supreme  value  to  all 
who  seek  to  know  what  manner  of  man  Gotama  was,  and 
what  was  the  secret  of  his  amazing  success. 

The  material  at  our  disposal  is  as  follows: 

1.  The  Introduction  to  the  Jataka,  known  as  the  Nida- 
nakatha:  this  was  written  down  in  Pali  in  the  monasteries 
of  Ceylon  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  A.  D.  It 
contains  references  to  other  biographies  now  lost,  and  gives 
us  the  narrative  from  Gotama's  birth  to  the  visit  he  made 
to  his  family  after  attaining  Enlightenment.  It  has  been 
translated  into  English  under  the  editorship  of  E.  B.  Cowell, 
and  parts  of  it  are  also  in  H.  C.  Warren's  "Buddhism  in 
Translation." 

2.  The  Mahavagga,  a  very  old  part  of  the  Vinaya,  car- 
ries the  narrative  on,  giving  a  number  of  instances  following 
the  Enlightenment,  and  dealing  especially  with  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Sangha. 


'Oldenberg,   "Buddha,"   E.   T.,   p.    79. 


Introduction  3 

3.  Anecdotes  contained  in  the  Dialogues  or  Suttas,  in 
some  of  which  Gotama  tells  of  his  early  search,  and  in  others 
of  which  are  given  details  of  his  dealings  with  men.  The 
most  valuable  are  those  of  the  Majjhima  Nikaya,  where  we 
find  Gotama  portrayed,  as  Dr.  Anesaki  has  said,  as  "a  vivid 
human  personality." 

With  these  we  may  class  such  gnomic  utterances  as  the 
Dhammapada  and  the  Ittivuttaka,  which  no  doubt  contain 
many  authentic  "Logia"  of  Gotama. 

The  above  are  early  canonical  works,  though  probably 
several  hundred  years  had  elapsed  before  they  were  written 
down.  They  contain  evidence  of  the  process  of  deification  of 
Gotama,  yet  there  is  much  in  them  which  may  be  regarded 
as  real  history. 

4.  Later  and  less  reliable  are  the  poetical  Buddha  Carita, 
composed  probably  in  the  reign  of  Kanishka  by  Asvaghosa,  as 
late  as  100  A.  D.  It  is  written  in  Sanskrit,  and  seems  to  aim 
at  filling  up  the  details  of  the  story  of  Gotama's  life  until  the 
Enlightenment. 

Later  still  is  the  Lalita  Vistara,  which  is  also  written  in 
Sanskrit  and  carries  us  down  to  his  first  sermon  at  Benares. 
On  this  is  based  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  poem  "The  Light  of 
Asia,"  and  scholars  are  agreed  that  it  is  about  as  historical  as 
Milton's  Paradise  poems. 

5.  Still  later  is  the  Jina  Carita,  a  Pali  poem  written  in 
the  twelfth  century  A.  D.  by  Buddhadatta  in  Ceylon. 

6.  Lastly,  belonging  to  a  literary  period  two  thousand 
years  after  the  death  of  Gotama  is  the  Malalankara  Watthu, 
known  best  in  Bishop  Bigandet's  translation,  "The  Life  or 
Legend  of  Gaudama  Buddha." 

In  these  later  works  the  process  of  deification  is  almost 
complete,  and  I  have  preferred  not  to  use  them  in  compiling 
this  work. 

In  addition  to  these  literary  sources  we  have  the  great 
sculptured  monuments  of  Buddhism,  some  of  which  are  as 
early  as  the  second  century  B.  C.  and  contain  a  great  deal 
of  material  for  reconstructing  the  India  of  Gotama's  day. 
Strangely  enough,  they  record  many  of  the  incidents  in  his 
life  which  the  modern  biographer  must  regard  as  legendary. 

These  earlier  monuments,  however,  whilst  they  sprang  up  to 
satisfy  "the  commemorative  instinct,"  and  whilst  they  es- 
tablish the  historicity  of  Gotama,  contain  no  figure  of  him, 


4  Gotama  Buddha 

but  content  themselves  with  symbols  illustrating  the  great 
events  of  his  life.  Portraits  and  statues  of  him  were  made 
only  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 

One  of  the  instructions  which  he  seems  to  have  given  to 
Ananda  as  he  lay  dying  is  that  the  pious  worshiper  should 
visit  four  sacred  spots  connected  with  his  life:  the  place  of 
his  birth — Kapilavatthu ;  the  place  of  his  Enlightenment — 
Budh-Gaya;  the  place  of  his  first  sermon — the  Gazelle  Park 
near  Benares;  and  the  place  of  his  passing  away — Kusi- 
nagara.4 

These  great  events  are  indicated  in  Buddhist  art  by  the 
following  symbols:  The  Elephant  typifies  his  birth,  com- 
memorating Queen  Maya's  dream;  the  Bo  Tree  commemo- 
rates his  Enlightenment;  the  Wheel  symbolizes  the  beginning 
of  his  public  ministry;  and  the  "stupa"  or  burial  mound  his 
passing  into  Nibbdna. 

When  we  seek  for  early  portraits  of  Gotama  then,  we 
find  only  symbols  in  their  place.  Yet  tradition  assigns  to 
him  well-known  features,  and  we  find  here  and  there  in  the 
books,  e.g.,  in  the  "Song  of  Kassapa"  quoted  below,  indica- 
tions of  his  personal  characteristics  which  are  consistent  with 
the  traditional  statues  of  him,  and  which  help  to  strengthen 
our  conception  of  him  as  a  serene  and  gracious  figure,  lofty 
of  brow,  majestic  of  mien,  with  eyes  at  once  loving  and 
searching — a  man  who  conceived  his  task,  above  all,  as  that 
of  a  teacher  of  morals.  It  is  this  majestic  man  whom 
India  recognizes  as  her  greatest  son,  and  who  has  still  les- 
sons of  vital  significance  to  the  world,  whose  story  we  are 
to  tell. 

It  is  the  story  of  a  singularly  gracious  and  noble  life,  and 
of  a  character  which  reminds  us  (albeit  in  fitful  glimpses 
which  we  get  through  the  stiff  and  stilted  passages  of  the 
scholastic  narrative)  now  of  Socrates,  now  of  Francis  of 
Assisi,  now,  though  less  vividly,  of  some  Hebrew  prophet; 
for  Gotama  combined  in  his  person  a  passion  for  moral 
and  intellectual  truth  with  a  gracious  compassion  and  sim- 
plicity which  endear  him  to  our  hearts. 


*  Mahapari-nibbano  Sutta,   V.    16:22. 


Introduction  5 

To  Dr.  Oldenberg,  Professor  de  la  Vallee  Poussin,  Dr. 
Rhys  Davids,  the  Bhikkhu  Sitacara,  and  other  Western 
scholars  who  have  made  available  so  much  material  for  this 
study,  I  am  glad  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness:  as  also 
to  the  long  succession  of  Eastern  disciples,  known  and  un- 
known, who  have  kept  his  memory  green.  To  Mrs.  Rhys 
Davids  I  owe  special  thanks  for  permission  to  quote  so 
freely  from  her  books. 

Lastly,  I  am  indebted  to  the  Cambridge  University  Press 
and  to  Professor  Rapson  for  permission  to  use  the  map  con- 
tained in  his  "Ancient  India." 

The  verses  in  Appendix  I  first  appeared  in  the  International 
Review  of  Missions. 

I  hope  that  this  little  book  will  help  students  in  the  East 
and  West  to  a  more  detailed  study  of  their  works. 

K.  J.   S. 

Kyoto,  Japan,  July,  1920. 

Note — The  Pali  rather  than  the  Sanskrit  spelling  is  used 
throughout — Gotama,  not  Gautama;  Kapilavatthu,  not  Kapi- 
lavastu.  It  was  probably  the  common  dialect  of  Magadha 
and  parts  of  Kosala,  where  the  bulk  of  Gotama's  teachings 
were  given,  and  whence  for  many  generations  the  Bhikkhus 
mainly  came.  Only  in  cases  where  the  word  is  primarily  of 
Hindu  rather  than  of  Buddhist  origin  and  significance,  e.g., 
Brahmin,  Kshatriya,  is  it  retained  in  its  Sanskrit  form. 


CHAPTER    I 
THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  GOTAMA 

Neither  mother  nor  father  nor  any  kinsfolk  can  do  thee 
service  like  a  well-directed  mind. — Dhammapada  43. 

By  the  sixth  century  B.  C,  the  Aryan  and  Mongolian  in- 
vaders of  India  had  established  themselves  along  the  lower 
slopes  of  the  Himalayas,  and  had  poured  into  the  Ganges 
valley.  It  was  along  this  valley  that  early  Buddhism  was  to 
spread,  and  to  understand  it  aright  we  must  know  some- 
thing of  the  mingled  civilization  which  they  established. 
Politically  it  was  like  that  of  early  Greece,  and  the  systems 
of  government  varied  from  autocratic  monarchies  to  self- 
governing  communities.  Of  the  former  type  we  learn  from 
Brahmin,  Jain,  and  Buddhist  literature  that  there  were  six- 
teen,1 and  there  were  many  smaller  states,  some  of  which 
were  more  or  less  feudatory  to  their  larger  neighbors,  some 
independent. 

The  chief  of  the  larger  kingdoms  were  those  with  which 
early  Buddhism  was  most  concerned:  Kosala,  correspond- 
ing to  the  modern  Oudh,  with  its  capital  either  at  Savatthi2 
or  at  Ayodhya;  Magadha,  corresponding  to  South  Bihar,3 
with  its  capital  at  Rajagaha,4  and  Videha,  corresponding  to 
North  Bihar,  with  its  capital  at  Mithila.  These  kingdoms 
were  separated  from  one  another  by  rivers,  the  Ganges  di- 
viding Videha  from  Magadha,  and  the  Sandanira  dividing 
it  from  Kosala.  The  kings  of  these  countries  were  often 
related  to  one  another  by  marriage;  thus  we  find  that  Bim- 


1  For  example,  Vinaya  Texts,  2.  146.  Anguttara  Nikaya,  I.  213;  cf. 
Rhys  Davids,   "Buddhist  India,"  p.   23. 

2  Now  Sahet  Mahet  on  the  river  Rapti. 

8  Bihar  gets  its  name  from  the  many  Viharas  or  Buddhist  monasteries 
which  it  at  one  time  boasted. 

4  Now  Rajgir,  on  whose  five  hills  religious  teachers  still  gather  their 
bands  of  disciples. 


of  lH^?-:ih£i.  ha<pKon 
l  PasemlrWt  (Bsala  a 


ife  of  Gotama 


bisara  of  !Wb?"'ha  ruMRnongst  his  wives  the  sister  of  Ag- 
nidatta  Pasem|rWP(rosala  and  also  "the  Lady  of  Mithila." 

Amongst  the  self-governing  communities  was  that  of  the 
Licchavi  nobles,  living  in  and  around  Vesali,  who,  after 
Gotama's  death,  came  under  the  suzerainty  of  Ajatasattu; 
but  the  Sakyas,  Gotama's  own  people,  were  already  tributary 
to  the  kings  of  Kosala.  Their  chief  town  was  Kapilavatthu, 
and  their  total  territory  probably  covered  some  nine  hundred 
square  miles,  partly  on  the  slopes  of  the  Himalayas,  and 
partly  in  the  rich  rice  fields  which  stretched  out  like  a  great 
carpet  below,  irrigated  by  abundant  streams  pouring  down 
from  the  mountain-side,  and  bordered  on  the  east  by  the 
Rohini,  and  on  the  west  and  south  by  the  Achiravati.5  It  is 
probable  that  both  Licchavis  and  Sakyas,  like  the  modern 
inhabitants  of  the  Tarai  of  Nepal,  were  Mongolians  and 
that  Gotama  was  not  of  Aryan  stock.6 

This  rich  and  fertile  land  was  the  early  home  of  Gotama 
Buddha,  a  land  of  great  beauty,  with  the  mighty  snow  ram- 
part of  Himalaya  towering  above  it,  and  below  it  the  rich 
green  of  sandal  (sal)  trees  and  young  oaks,  and  the  still  more 
wonderful  green  of  rice  fields. 

His  father's  name,  Suddhodana,  which  means  "Pure  Rice," 
suggests  that  they  were  an  agricultural  people;  but  they  be- 
longed to  the  Kshatriya  or  warrior  caste,  and  the  early 
legends  tell  of  ambitious  plans  which  the  Chieftain  had  for 
his  son.  At  the  least,  we  may  imagine  that  he  desired  the 
boy  to  succeed  him  in  the  leadership  of  the  clan;  for  the 
Sakyas  seem  to  have  been  led  by  a  hereditary  chief,  not  like 
their  neighbors,  the  Licchavis,  by  a  Nayaka,  elected  to  the 
post.  But  from  the  leadership  of  a  clan  to  the  position  of 
"Universal  Monarch,"  Chakkavatti,  is  a  far  cry;  and  the 
legend  that  this  was  the  destiny  marked  out  for  the  young 
Gotama  may  be  dismissed  as  unlikely.  Yet  it  is  not  impossi- 
ble; for  less  than  three  centuries  later  Chandragupta  and 
his  house,  starting  from  smaller  beginnings  and  with  far  less 


5  The  Achiravati  is  now  the  Rapti;  the  Rohini  retains  its  ancient  name. 
These  rivers  meet  near  Goruckpur,    100  miles  north  of  Benares. 

8  See  Vincent  Smith,  "Oxford  History  of  India,"  p.  49.  Dr.  D.  B. 
Spooner  maintains  that  Gotama  was  of  Iranian  descent.  Perhaps  both  these 
views  are   right,    for   there   was   much   intermarriage. 


8  Gotama  Buddha 


<* 


of  genius  than  Gotama,  achieved  this  poMion  jm  during  his 
lifetime  the  foundations  of  this  mighfli^^^re  were  laid 
by  the  kings  of  Magadha.  However  that  may  be,  Suddho- 
dana  was  not  a  king  as  the  legends  claim:  in  some  passages 
in  the  early  Buddhist  books  he  is  called  Raja,  but  so  are 
all  the  Licchavi  and  Sakya  nobles;  and  only  in  the  Thera- 
gatha  commentary  is  he  called  Maharaja.  It  is  agreed 
amongst  scholars  that  he  was  one  of  numerous  petty  chief- 
tains. That  he  had  a  pride  of  race  worthy  of  a  Scottish  laird 
seems  clear,  and  even  if  he  had  no  higher  ambition  than  that 
his  son  should  succeed  him,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  regarded 
this  as  no  mean  destiny.  The  very  name  Sakya  means  "the 
mighty" ! 

To  illustrate  the  pride  of  these  border  clans  we  may  quote 
an  early  legend,  probably  apocryphal,  which  describes  how, 
when  the  King  of  Kosala  asked  for  a  Sakya  in  marriage, 
the  chiefs  gathered  in  their  Mote  Hall  and  decided  that  they 
could  not  lower  their  dignity  by  allowing  one  of  their  free- 
born  daughters  to  marry  him;  so  they  sent  back  the J^stariJ 
daughter  of  one  of  them  by  a  slave  woman.7 

Life  at  the  house  of  one  of  these  chiefs  would  be  not  un- 
like that  at  a  Scottish  castle  in  the  Middle  Ages;  not  only 
was  there  the  same  pride  of  race,  but  there  was  much  the 
same  feudal  system,  and  much  the  same  strange  wayfaring 
life;  scholar  and  minstrel,  noble  and  friar,  soothsayer  and 
jester,  ascetic  and  juggler,  would  pass  in  a  fascinating  pan- 
orama before  the  son  of  the  house,  and  a  rough  hospitality 
awaited  all. 

The  boy  was  born  probably  about  the  year  560  B.  C.8 
at  a  pleasaunce  between  the  capital  of  the  Sakyas  and  that 
of  the  Koliyas,  a  clan  from,  whom  his  mother,  the  Lady 
Maya,  seems  to  have  sprung.  To  mark  the  site  of  this 
garden  of   Lumbini   a  pillar  was  erected  by  the   Emperor 


7  See  Rhys  Davids,  "Buddhist  India,"  p.  11.  This  insult  led,  we  are 
told,  to  the  sack  of  Kapilavatthu  and  the  massacre  of  the  Sakyas  by 
Vidudabha  towards  the  end  of  Gotama's  life  or  soon  after  his  death. 

8  Another  possible  date  is  sixty-four  years  earlier:  a  date  accepted  in 
Ceylon  and  arrived  at  by  reckoning  backwards  the  sum  of  years  assigned 
to  each  of  the  kings  of  Ceylon,  till  the  time  of  the  introduction  of  Buddhism 
into  the  Island  by  Mahinda,  the  son  of  Asoka,  whose  dates  are  well  known, 
and  who  is  said  to  have  been  crowned  218  years  after  the  death  of  Gotama. 


The  Early  Life  of  Gotama  9 

Asoka  about  244  B.  C.  with  the  inscription  "Here  the  Ex- 
alted One  was  born." 

Amongst  the  many  legends  of  his  birth  and  early  days 
there  is  one  which  seems  reasonable  enough;  it  tells  how  the 
old  man  Asita  came  to  see  the  babe,  and  foretold  a  great 
future  for  him.9  Another  legend  tells  that  his  mother  died 
soon  after  his  birth,  and  that  it  was.  her  sister,  the  Lady 
Pajapati,  Suddhodana's  second  wife,  who  brought  him  up. 
He  was  called  Siddhattha,  that  is,  "Desire  Accomplished," 
but  his  family  name  was  Gotama,  a  name  derived  from  one 
of  the  ancient  families  of  rishis  or  seers  of  Vedic  times.10 

We  can  imagine  the  little  boy,  who  seems  to  have  been  a 
son  of  Suddhodana's  old  age,  brought  up  with  loving  care, 
and  even  spoiled  by  his  doting  aunt  and  her  women.  He 
probably  learned  early  an  imperious  habit,  and  the  legends 
are  lavish  in  their  description  of  his  pampered  childhood 
and  youth :  "I  wore  garments  of  silk,  and  my  attendants  held 
a  white  umbrella  over  me,"  he  used  to  tell  his  disciples  in 
after  days.  As  he  walked  out  thus  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
boy's  eyes  and  ears  were  busy! 

His  mind  would  be  formed  very  largely  by  the  things  he 
saw  in  the  everyday  life  of  his  people.  Living  in  the  midst 
of  a  rural  community,  he  would  get  to  know  the  life  of  the 
villages  dotted  about  amongst  the  rice  fields,  and  of  the 
jungle,  and  the  legends  attribute  to  him  an  early  love  of  the 
animals  for  whom  in  later  life  he  was  to  do  so  signal  a 
service. . 

Hunting  was  perhaps  the  chief  sport  of  the  Kshatriyas, 
and  sacrifices  kept  the  Brahmins  busy.  It  may  well  have 
been  some  victim  of  the  chase  or  of  the  altar  that  first 
kindled  in  him  as  a  boy  the  divine  compassion  which  still 
makes  his  memory  so  fragrant. 

In  the  long  sunny  days  of  summer  he  would  play,  perhaps 
with  his  cousins  Ananda  and  Devadatta,  certainly  with  his 


9  Nalaka  Sutta  of  the  Sutta  Nipata. 

10  It  is  not  clear  why  a  warrior  clan  should  have  had  a  Brahmin  family 
name.  See  Oldenberg,  "Buddha,"  E.  T.,  pp.  413,  414.  Dr.  Rhys  Davids 
says:  "It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Gautama  is  still  the  family  name  of  the 
Rajput  chiefs  of  Nagara,  the  village  wrongly  identified  with  Kapilavastu 
by '  Cunningham."      "Buddhism,"    p.    27. 


/ 


io  Gotama  Buddha 

friend  Kaludayin,  the  immemorial  outdoor  games  of  his 
country,  chariot-races,  wrestling,  running,  hunting,  a  kind 
of  "hopscotch,"  and  many  others  common  today  in  India; 
and  in  the  wet  season,  marbles,  dice,  chess,  "tip-cat,"  "spilli- 
kins," and  many  more.11  Or  they  would  sit  and  listen  in 
the  flickering  lamplight  to  the  legends  of  ancient  India,  cele- 
brating the  deeds  of  heroes  and  of  gods;  or  some  village 
Uncle  Remus  would  tell  them  old  folk-lore  tales,  many  of 
which  we  in  the  West  know  in  y£sop  and  La  Fontaine,  and 
which  in  days  to  come  Gotama  was  to  turn  to  good  account. 
Stories,  too,  there  were  of  a  more  fearsome  kind,  of  ghosts 
and  goblins,  or  of  red-eyed  ogresses  who  stole  and  ate  chil- 
dren, or  let  loose  plagues  to  devastate  whole  districts.  And 
often  as  they  passed  some  dark  tree  they  would  make  a  little 
offering  to  the  spirit  hiding  there,  who  might  be  in  a  bad 
temper,  and  who  must  needs  be  propitiated.  Or  they  would 
take  their  part  in  the  ceremony  of  feeding  the  hungry  spirits 
"Petas"  (Fathers)  who  thronged  the  thresholds  of  their  old 
homes,  or  jibbered  hungrily  at  crossroads.12 

Thus  fear  played  its  part  in  their  early  training,  and  a 
further  tinge  of  mystery  and  horror  was  added  to  it  at  the 
sight  of  self-inflicted  tortures,  common  then  as  now  in  India. 
The  ascetic  with  his  terrible  emaciated  body  and  distorted 
limbs  would  make  a  keen  appeal  to  the  imagination  of  the 
child,  and  perhaps  an  indelible  impression  shaping  his  after 
life.  Of  such  asceticism  he  spoke  in  old  age,  and  his  de- 
scription of  what  he  himself  endured  may  well  serve  as  a 
picture  of  some  Indian  Sadhu  who  arrested  his  attention  as  a 
boy ;  as  indeed  it  might  portray  the  Sannyasi  of  today.13 

"I  have  fed  my  body  on  mosses,  grasses,  cow-dung.  I 
have  lived  upon  the  wild  fruits  and  roots  of  the  jungle, 
eating  only  of  fruit  fallen  from  the  trees.  I  have  worn 
garments  of  hemp  and  hair,  as  also  foul  clouts  from  the 
charnel-house,  rags  from  dust-heaps.  I  have  wrapped  my- 
self in  the  abandoned  skins  and  hides  of  animals;  covered 


u  Cullavagga,   I.    13.      Tevijja   Sutta,    II.      "Dialogues   of   the   Buddha," 
Rhys  Davids,   II.   9-11. 

12  Cf.   "The  Heart  of  Buddhism,"  p.  48   (from  the  Khuddaka  Nikaya). 
M  "Dialogues  of  Gotama,"  tr.  by  Silacara,  I.  97-99. 


The  Early  Life  of  Gotama  u 

my  nakedness  with  lengths  of  grass,  bark,  and  leaves,  with  a 
patch  of  some  wild  animal's  mane  or  tail,  with  the  wing  of 
an  owl.  I  was  also  a  plucker-out  of  hair  and  beard,  prac- 
tised the  austerity  of  rooting  out  hair  from  head  and  face. 
I  took  upon  myself  the  vow  always  to  stand,  never  to  sit 
or  lie  down.  I  bound  myself  perpetually  to  squat  upon  my 
heels,  practised  the  austerity  of  continual  heel-squatting.  A 
'thorn  sided  one'  was  I ;  when  I  lay  down  to  rest,  it  was  with 
thorns  upon  my  sides.  .   .   . 

"I  betook  myself  to  a  certain  dark  and  dreadful  wood  and 
in  that  place  made  my  abode.  And  there  in  the  dense  and 
fearsome  forest  such  horror  reigned,  that  the  hair  of  whom- 
soever, not  sense-subdued,  entered  that  dread  place,  stood  on 
end  with  terror." 

Such  scenes  would  help  to  quicken  his  already  luxuriant 
imagination,  and  to  make  him  sensitive;  might  they  not 
plant  in  him  a  phobia,  which  later  led  to  a  one-sided  insist- 
ence upon  the  sorrow  and  pain  of  life? 

But  whilst  his  emotions  were  being  thus  stirred,  his  mind 
was  also  being  instructed.  We  cannot  doubt  that  he  sat 
at  the  feet  of  some  Indian  guru  and  learned  from  him 
something  of  the  earlier  Vedas  and  of  the  central  teach- 
ings of  contemporary  Hinduism.  Probably  it  was  not  very 
much,14  but  it  gave  a  permanent  cast  to  his  mind,  so  that 
later  he  never  questioned  such  doctrines  as  those  of  Karma 
(action  and  its  result)  and  Samsara  (transmigration)15 — 
doctrines  probably  taught  him  almost  in  infancy  by  those 
about  him  in  his  father's  household,  and  re-emphasized  by 
his  guru,  who  at  the  age  of  ten  or  eleven  would  initiate 
him,  giving  him  the  bow-string  girdle,  the  madder  undervest, 
and  the  deerskin  robe  of  the  warrior,  and  instructing  him 
each  year  from  July  to  October  in  Vedic  lore. 

At  other  times  he  and  his  friends  would  sit  and  listen  to 
some  wandering  scholar  expounding  his  system  in  the  court- 


14  Dr.  Oldenberg  argues  that  "in  the  training  of  nobles  in  those  lands 
which  were  but  slightly  attached  to  Brahmanism,  more  attention  was  paid 
to  martial  exercise  than  to  knowledge  of  the  Veda,"  and  that  "Buddhists 
have  not  attributed  Vedic  scholarship  to  their  master."  "Buddha,"  E.  T., 
p.    100. 

16  Though  as  we  shall  see  he  was  the  first  to  make  the  Karma  doctrine 
reasonable  and  ethical,  and  he  profoundly  modified  the  doctrine  of  Samsara. 


12  Gotama  Buddha 

yard  of  the  family  home,  and  would  note,  half-consciously,  the 
good-humored  tolerance  with  which  his  elders  listened  even 
though  they  did  not  understand.  And  after  the  good  man 
was  gone,  he  would  join  in  the  kindly  fun  poked  at  him, 
and  laugh  at  some  name  such  as  "eel-wriggler,"  "hair-split- 
ter,"16 or  "weaver  of  trifles"  which  they  would  coin  for 
him.  But  the  ideal  of  a  Buddha — or  Wise  Teacher  who 
would  give  his  people  peace — this  would,  no  doubt,  be  men- 
tioned by  some  more  earnest  soul,  and  it  seems  to  have  found 
a  lodging  in  the  mind  of  the  young  Siddhattha. 

Of  the  Brahmins,  too,  and  of  their  claims,  he  would  learn 
much;  one  view  from  his  guru,  another  from  his  Kshatriya 
relations,  "who  esteemed  the  Brahmin  highly  whilst  they  es- 
teemed themselves  more  highly  still";  and  would  speak  of 
them  much  as  a  medieval  baron  in  the  West  might  speak 
of  the  clergy  of  his  day,  good  worthy  folk,  but  not,  for  the 
most  part,  of  noble  birth.17  Or  perhaps  his  father  would 
take  him  to  the  court  of  Magadha  when  he  went  to  pay 
homage,  and  here,  too,  he  would  learn  that  the  great  kings 
did  not  altogether  relish  the  growing  power  and  claims  of 
these  Brahmins,  but  were  ever  ready  to  become  patrons  of 
any  who  set  up  a  rival  teaching.  He  would  exult  in  the 
great  rock  fortress  of  Giribajja,  and  the  new  town  of 
Rajagaha,  then  probably  still  being  built — both  symbols  of 
Kshatriya  domination. 

Or  he  may  have  gone  to  Savatthi  or  to  the  opulent  and 
dissolute  Vesali,  whose  rich  nobles  he  later  described  as  "like 
a  host  of  gods."  It  is  interesting  to  speculate  upon  how  such 
journeys  were  accomplished.  Probably  they  would  accom- 
pany some  merchant  caravan  as  it  passed  along  one  of  the 
great  trade  routes  of  the  day,  routes  he  was  to  use  so  often 
in  the  long  years  of  his  wanderings  as  a  religious  teacher. 

We  can  imagine  the  boy  wide-eyed  with  excitement,  and 
reveling  in  this  long  sunny  picnic  from  Kapilavatthu  along 
the  foot  of  the  mountains  to  the  neighborhood  of  Vesali, 
and   then    south   to  the   Ganges   and   Rajagaha.     The   long 


18  "Dialogues,"    137,    138. 

17  In   J&taka,   V.   257,   a   Brahmin   of   Benares  is   called   "low-born"    (see 
'Buddhist  India,"   pp.   60,   61). 


The  Early  Life  of  Gotama  13 

caravan,  with  its  loaded  camels  and  throng  of  servants,  would 
pass  through  Kusinara,  Pava,  Pataliputta,  and  Nalanda, — 
names  famous  in  after  days  because  of  their  association  with 
him  and  his  Order.  Of  the  two  latter,  one  was  to  become 
the  capital  of  a  mighty  Buddhist  empire,  the  other  the  seat 
of  one  of  the  great  Buddhist  universities.  Or,  they  may 
have  gone  upon  a  pleasant  river  trip  on  the  Ganges  or  the 
Jumna.18 

Arrived  at  one  of  the  royal  cities  he  would  see  the  king  as 
he  is  pictured  in  ancient  sculptures  at  Barhut  and  elsewhere, 
seated  or  standing  in  his  four-horse  chariot,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  royal  elephants,  the  archers,  the  cavalry,  the 
infantry,  and  all  the  busy  throng  of  courtiers  and  court 
servants.  A  list  of  such  is  given  in  an  early  narrative  tell- 
ing of  the  visit  of  King  Ajatasattu  to  Gotama  sixty  years 
later,  and  as  Professor  Rhys  Davids  has  pointed  out,  they  are 
all  "just  the  sort  of  people  employed  about  a  camp  or  palace." 
In  the  palace  itself,  probably  a  two-storied  building  with  an 
upper  apartment  for  the  women  and  open  courtyards  below, 
the  boy  would  watch  the  gamblers  dicing,  and  learn  how  the 
kings  got  plentiful  revenue  from  their  winnings.  Or  he 
would  listen  eagerly  to  the  latest  tales  of  some  terrible  punish- 
ment inflicted  by  the  autocrat,  or  of  some  ambitious  project 
for  subduing  a  neighboring  state.  That  these  kings  were 
often  tyrannical  in  the  extreme  is  suggested  by  several  pas- 
sages in  the  Buddhist  books,  which  describe  monstrous  tor- 
tures inflicted  for  sins  such  as  theft,  highway  robbery,  and 
adultery : 

"Then  the  rulers  cause  them  to  be  seized  and  condemn  them 
to  various  punishments,  such  as,  to  be  flogged  with  whips, 
sticks  or  switches;  to  have  their  feet  cut  off;  or  to  have  both 
their  hands  and  their  feet  cut  off;  to  have  their  ears  cut 
off ;  to  have  their  nose  cut  off ;  or  to  have  both  ears  and  nose 
cut  off.  ...  Or  they  are  basted  with  boiling  oil*  torn  to 
pieces  of  dogs,  impaled  alive,  or  beheaded;  and  so  they  come 
by  death  or  deadly  hurt."19 


18  See   Rhys   Davids,   "Buddhist  India,"   p.    103. 

19  This  kind  of  thing  was  even  done  later  on  in  the  interests  of  Buddhism 
by  Ajatasattu  after  his  conversion.  "Dialogues  of  Gotama,"  tr.  by  Sila- 
cara,  I.  110. 


^iji'wf  fc\-KM-/</AW 


14  Gotama  Buddha 

The  boy  would  discover,  too,  the  growing  rivalry  between 
the  great  states  of  Magadha  and  Kosala,  which  has  been  called 
the  leading  point  in  the  politics  of  the  day;  for  the  kingdom 
of  Kosala  had  made  rapid  progress,  and  a  great  struggle  was 
imminent  between  it  and  Magadha.  He  could  not  help  learn- 
ing that  the  rival  kings  attached  great  importance  to  the 
allegiance  of  such  clans  as  the  Sakyas  and  Licchavis;  it  was 
indeed  by  the  help  of  the  latter  that  the  King  of  Magadha 
eventually  obtained  supremacy. 

No  doubt,  therefore,  the  boy  and  his  companions  would 
be  honorably  entertained,  and  made  free  of  royal  hospitality; 
and  they  would  take  their  share  as  befitted  young  nobles 
in  the  royal  sports.  Then,  as  the  caravan  made  its  way 
homewards,  there  would  be  much  discussion  of  the  rival 
kingdoms,  and  as  they  gathered  round  the  camp  fire  at  nights 
some  graybeard  would  tell  of  the  glories  of  the  Chakkavatti 
— that  ideal  king  who  was  to  rule  in  righteousness,  loving 
and  greatly  loved. 

Thus  the  boy  grew  up,  proud  of  race,  strong  in  body,  quick 
in  imagination,  not  uninstructed  in  Vedic  learning,  and  alive 
to  the  political  and  social  movements  of  his  day. 

In  due  course  he  was  married,  and  entered  into  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  his  station,  with  some  share,  no  doubt,  in 
the  administration  of  his  father's  affairs.  Yet  he  was  a  man 
of  leisure,  with  residences,  we  are  told,  for  each  of  the  three 
seasons,  and  opportunities  for  further  study  and  thought. 
Perhaps  he  now  began  to  take  part  in  discussions  with  the 
wandering  sophists;  certainly  he  was  accumulating  experi- 
ences and  ideas  which  drove  him  forth  to  become  himself  a 
wandering  ascetic,  and  eventually  a  teacher  preeminent 
amongst  them  all.  The  form  of  the  great  discovery  which 
made  him  Buddha  suggests  that  he  was  not  unfamiliar 
with  the  medical  systems  of  his  day,  and  it  may  well  be  that 
from  some  court-physician  such  as  Jivaka,  who  is  mentioned 
in  the  books  and  who  afterwards  ministered  to  his  physical 
needs,20  he  learned  the  current  theories  of  disease,  and  the 
methods  of  its  treatment.     It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  In- 


20  In  a  very  thorough  way!     See  "Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XVII.  191. 


The  Early  Life  of  Gotama  15 

dian  medicine  had  reached  a  high  stage  of  efficiency,  and  that 
Buddhism  did  much  in  later  days  to  foster  it.21 

How  best  could  he  serve  his  people  ?  We  can  imagine  him 
in  these  days  of  early  manhood,  gazing  out  with  longing 
over  the  rich  plains  and  clustering  hamlets  of  his  father's 
domain  till  a  passionate  patriotism  filled  him  with  yearning 
to  serve  these  people  that  he  loved,  and  to  win  for  them  some 
abiding  happiness.  Like  the  cultured  Indian  boy  of  today, 
he  would  have  ideals  large  and  a  little  vague,  a  passionate 
aspiration  but  dimly  understood;  like  other  adolescents  he 
was  potentially  a  knight-errant.  Gradually,  as  he  grew  to 
man's  estate,  these  ideals  would  take  form  and  shape.  And  it 
is  perhaps  this  process  which  is  commemorated  in  the  old 
legend  of  a  vision22  which  the  gods  sent  him;  vivid  pictures 
of  old  age  and  disease  and  death,  culminating  in  that  of  a 
yellow-robed  Sannyasi,  seeking  freedom  from  them  all.  Such, 
at  any  rate,  was  the  resolve  to  which  his  musings  brought 
him,  and  which  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  resolutely  carried 
out.  A  Chakkavattif  Yes,  perhaps,  but  of  a  kind  new  to 
his  people  or  familiar  to  them  as  the  Wise  Teacher — Buddha 
— whose  sway  is  made  possible  by  a  change  of  heart  and 
mind. 

"Unto  this  I  came 
And  not  for  thrones:  the  Kingdom  that  I  crave 
Is  more  than  many  realms — and  all  things  pass 
To  change  and  death." 

The  legend  tells  that  as  he  tore  himself  from  the  ties  of 
home,  messengers  came  to  him  from  his  wife's  chamber  an- 
nouncing the  birth  of  his  little  son.  "Call  his  name  Rahula, 
a  bond,"  he  cried,  "for  here  is  another  bond  which  I  must 
break."  India  has  for  more  than  2,500  years  acclaimed  this 
as  an  heroic  sacrifice,  much  as  the  Christian  Church,  in  spite 
of  2,000  years  of  Christianity,  still,  for  the  most  part,  ad- 
mires the  readiness  with  which  Abraham  set  about  offering 


21  The  Chinese  pilgrim  I-Tsing  mentions  dispensaries  and  hospitals  at 
Patna;  Asoka  tells  how  he  provided  medical  care  even  for  animals; 
Kanishka  was  a  patron  of  the  medical  profession;  and  Japanese  Buddhism 
makes  much   of  a  god   of  medicine. 

22  Described  in  Anguttara  Nikaya,  I.  145,  as  a  series  of  "thoughts"  or 
"ideas." 


1 6  Gotama  Buddha 

up  his  only  son.  Yet  the  conscience  of  today  can  approve 
neither;  and  should  a  vision  urge  the  modern  father  to  take 
either  step,  he  would  refuse  to  believe  his  senses;  for  the 
God  whom  we  have  learned  to  know  both  in  East  and  West 
could  not  ignore  the  rights  of  wife  or  child. 

But  the  young  Gotama,  like  the  old  Abraham,  was  the  son 
of  a  patriarchal  age,  a  man  of  his  time,  and  is  to  be  judged 
accordingly.  It  does  not  lessen  our  veneration  for  him  as  a 
man,  but  it  must  be  set  in  the  scales  of  any  fair-minded 
biographer  against  the  tremendous  claims  which  his  disciples 
very  soon  began  to  make  on  his  behalf. 

The  step  now  taken  by  Gotama,  and  his  subsequent  re- 
ligious life,  romantic  and  adventurous  as  it  seems  to  the  West, 
follow  the  accepted  practice  of  Brahmin  discipline.  The 
four  asramas,  or  religious  stages  in  the  life  of  the  Brahmin 
are  as  follows :  In  the  first  he  is  a  son  of  his  father's  house, 
and  a  pupil  of  his  guru,  from  whom  he  learns  the  sacred 
texts  and  the  methods  of  sacrifice;  in  the  second  he  marries 
and  brings  up  a  family;  in  the  third  he  goes  forth  accom- 
panied by  his  wife,  or  alone,  into  the  jungle  and  becomes  an 
anchorite ;  and  in  the  fourth  he  abandons  all  earthly  ties  for- 
ever and  devotes  himself  to  meditation.23 

But  these  Brahmin  disciplines  follow  orderly  and  natural 
stages.  When  a  man  has  brought  up  his  family,  and  "seen 
his  son's  son,"  he  may  well  leave  the  world  without  being 
sorely  missed. 

Gotama,  more  ambitious  and  more  adventurous,  went  forth 
in  the  bloom  of  youth  and,  Kshatriya  as  he  was,  to  find  a 
way  of  escape  from  rebirth  and  its  attendant  sorrows.  Hence- 
forward he  is  Sakyamuni — the  "Solitary"  or  Sage  of  the 
Sakya  clan. 


28  Brahmacharin,    Grihastha,    Vdnaprostha,    and    Sannyasin,    or    Bhikshu, 
are  the  technical  terms. 


CHAPTER    II 
QUEST  AND  CONQUEST 

"While  life  is  good  to  give,  I  give,  and  go 
To  seek  deliverance  and  that  unknown  Light." 

"The  Light  of  Asia." 

"In  the  prime  of  my  youth,  O  disciples,  a  black-haired  boy 
passing  into  manhood,  against  the  will  of  my  sorrowing  par- 
ents, I  shore  off  hair  and  beard,  and  putting  on  the  yellow 
robe  went  out  from  home,  vowed  henceforward  to  the  wan- 
dering life." 

In  these  quiet  words  Gotama  is  recorded  to  have  described 
one  of  the  great  events  of  history,  an  event  big  with  mean- 
ing for  untold  millions.  There  is  amongst  the  Ajanta 
frescoes  an  exquisite  picture  of  him  at  this  turning-point  in 
his  life.  It  belongs  to  the  seventh  century  A.  D.  and  can- 
not be  called  a  portrait;  but  it  is  notable  for  a  majesty  and  a 
sorrowful  tenderness  that  remind  us  of  da  Vinci's  study  of 
the  youthful  Christ.  It  is  thus  that  the  Buddhist  world  has 
treasured  the  memory  of  one  who  "out  of  compassion  for 
mankind"1  endured  unspeakable  austerities  in  seeking  salva- 
tion, or  freedom  from  rebirth. 

The  spirit  of  this  great  adventure  is  thus  finely  described 
by  Fielding  Hall : 

"He  went  to  seek  wisdom,  as  many  a  one  has  done,  look- 
ing for  the  laws  of  God  with  clear  eyes  to  see,  with  a  pure, 
heart  to  understand,  and  after  many  troubles,  after  many 
mistakes,  after  much  suffering,  he  came  at  last  to  the  truth. 

"Even  as  Newton  sought  for  the  laws  of  God  in  the  move- 
ment of  the  stars,  in  the  falling  of  a  stone,  in  the  stir  of 


/ 


1  It  seems  probable  that  this  altruistic  motive  became  articulate  later;  the 
young  Gotama  was  primarily  concerned  with  winning  his  own  freedom. 


1 8  Gotama  Buddha 

the  great  waters,  so  this  Newton  of  the  spiritual  world  sought 
for  the  secrets  of  life  and  death,  looking  deep  into  the  heart 
of  man,  marking  its  toil,  its  suffering,  its  little  joys,  with  a 
soul  attuned  to  catch  every  quiver  of  the  life  of  the  world. 
And  as  to  Newton  truth  did  not  come  spontaneously,  did  not 
reveal  itself  to  him  at  his  first  call,  but  had  to  be  sought  with 
toil  and  weariness,  till  at  last  he  reached  it  where  it  hid  in 
the  heart  of  all  things,  so  it  was  with  the  prince.  He  was  not 
born  with  the  knowledge  in  him,  but  had  to  seek  it  as  other 
men  do.  He  wasted  time  and  labor  following  wrong  roads, 
demonstrating  to  himself  the  foolishness  of  many  thoughts. 
But  never  discouraged,  he  sought  on  till  he  found,  and 
what  he  found  he  gave  as  a  heritage  to  all  men  for  ever,  that 
the  way  might  be  easier  for  them  than  it  had  been  for  him."2 

He  went  first  to  Rajagaha,  the  royal  city  of  Magadha,  to 
teachers  whom  it  may  well  be  he  had  already  visited  as  a 
boy,  or  whose  fame  had  reached  him  in  his  father's  home. 
"Thus  vowed  to  homelessness  and  seeking  the  highest,  even 
the  way  of  peace,  I  went  where  the  ascetic  Alara  Kalama 
dwelt  and  thus  addressed  him:  'Friend  Kalama,  I  would  lead 
the  life  of  a  recluse  as  your  pupil  and  follower/  and  very 
swiftly  I  learned,  O  disciples,  what  he  had  to  teach."3 

It  probably  did  not  amount  to  much ;  and  the  young  Indian 
noble  was  already  familiar,  we  may  be  sure,  with  the  current 
Indian  systems  of  religion.  We  learn  of  sixty-two  different 
schools  of  thought  in  the  India  of  his  day,  and  the  Kshattriyas 
from  whom  he  sprung  were  keenly  interested  in  these  wander- 
ing teachers,  often  providing  quiet  places  of  refuge  for 
them,  and  always  glad,  as  we  have  seen,  when  they  com- 
bated the  growing  ascendency  of  the  Brahmins.  What  was 
it  that  Alara  Kalama  taught  him?  It  is  described  as  the 
"realm  of  nothingness"4  and  as  "the  eight  stages  of  medita- 


2  "The  Soul  of  a  People,"  H.  Fielding  Hall,  pp.  20,  21. 

8  That  early  Buddhism  owed  much  to  the  Samkhya  system  has  been 
argued  by  Garbe  and  others;  but  that  Gotama  owed  this  knowledge  to  Alara 
Kalama  is  unlikely.  It  is,  however,  significant  that  the  Japanese  Legend 
says  that  Alara  gave  to  him  "two  staves" — which  are  the  mark  of  ascetics 
of  the  Samkhya  School.  Majjhima  Nikaya,  I.  163-5.  Lakshmi  Narasu  says 
quite  confidently  "He  was  evidently  a  follower  of  Kapila,  the  reputed 
founder  of  the  Samkhya  system  of  philosophy"  ("Essence  of  Buddhism," 
2d  Edition,  p.  6). 

The  Buddha  Carita  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XLIX)  gives  a  fairly 
full  summary  of  his  views  as  reconstructed  by  Asvaghosa. 

*  Ibid. 


Quest  and  Conquest  19 

tion."5  And  that  is  all  we  know  about  it.  Probably  his  sys- 
tem was  one  of  ascetic  meditation,  and  his  doctrine  that  the 
soul  can  be  set  free  from  the  body.  Though  he  was  urged 
to  become  fellow-leader  with  Alara  of  his  company  of 
ascetics,  Gotama  turned  away,  reflecting  that  this  teaching 
"did  not  lead  to  the  supreme  goal,  but  only  to  the  realm  of 
nothingness/'  and  went  on  to  another  teacher,  Uddaka,  the 
disciple  or  son  of  Rama,  with  no  better  success.  So  he  left 
the  rockhewn  hermitages  on  the  hillsides  of  Rajagaha 
"thoroughly  dissatisfied,"6  and  came  to  the  town  of  Uruvela. 
"And  there  I  spied  a  beautiful  and  quiet  spot  among  the  trees 
of  the  forest,  with  a  clear  river  flowing  past  them,  and  with 
fields  and  pasture  lands  around  them.  Here,  thought  I,  is  a 
pleasant  and  fitting  place  for  mental  effort."7 

The  river  seems  to  have  been  the  Neranjara — the  modern 
Phalgu — and  here  five  mendicant  hermits  joined  him,  and 
with  him  for  six  years  practiced  such  extreme  asceticism 
that  they  were  worn  to  skin  and  bone.  A  Graeco-Indian 
statue  of  Gandhara,  terrible  in  its  realism,  shows  the  great 
teacher  at  the  limit  of  his  strength,  and  he  seems  himself  to 
have  left  a  word-picture  with  his  disciples:  "Like  wasted 
withered  reeds  became  all  my  limbs,  like  a  camel's  hoof  my 
hips,  like  a  wavy  rope  my  backbone,  and  as  in  a  ruined  house 
the  roof-tree  rafters  show  all  aslope,  so  sloping  showed  my 
ribs  because  of  the  extremity  of  fasting.  As  in  a  deep  well 
the  watery  gleam  far  below  is  scarcely  to  be  seen,  so  in  my 
eye  sockets,  the  gleam  of  my  eye  balls,  far  sunken,  well-nigh 
disappeared,  and  as  a  severed  gourd  uncooked  and  left  out  in 
the  sun  becomes  rotten  and  shrunken,  so  hollow  and  shrunken 
became  the  skin  of  my  head.  When  I  touched  the  surface 
of  my  belly  my  hand  touched  my  backbone,  and  as  I  stroked 
my  limbs  the  hair,  rotten  at  the  roots,  came  away  in  my 
hands."8  Such  heroic  measures  are  not  uncommon  in  India, 
and  had  Gotama  succumbed  to  them  it  would  be  only  one 
more  added  to  the  long  tale  of  her  self-immolations.     He 


tJataka,   I.   65-69. 

8  "Discourses  of   Gotama,"   tr.   by   Silacara,   II.   99    (from  the  Majjhima 
Nik&ya) . 
*  Ibid. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  104. 


20  Gotama  Buddha 

almost  did  succumb,  so  that  messengers  hurried  to  Suddho- 
dana  to  tell  him  that  his  son  was  dead.  But  with  splendid 
sanity  he  realized  at  the  eleventh  hour  that  self-torture  was 
not  the  road  to  enlightenment,  that  he  had  been  "trying  to  tie 
the  air  into  knots."9  Though  it  meant  parting  company  with 
his  devoted  disciples  who  left  him  "when  he  was  most  in 
need  of  sympathy,"  he  took  food  and  returned  to  a  more  nor- 
mal way  of  life.  He  ceased  to  be  a  tapasa  (self -torturer) 
and  became  a  paribbajaka  (wanderer).  The  books  attribute 
to  Mara  the  Evil  One  a  longing  which  now  assailed  him  to 
return  to  wife  and  child  and  to  resume  a  truly  normal  life. 

At  the  end  of  these  six  terrible  years,  of  which  we  have  no 
detailed  knowledge,  the  great  day  of  his  Enlightenment  was 
at  hand.  Leaving  Nouveta,  he  went  to  Budhgaya,  to  a  great 
grove  of  trees  near  by — those  beautiful  groves  of  mango  and 
palm  and  fig  that  are  the  delight  of  the  heart  in  that  land  of 
burning,  flooding  sunshine — and  there  he  slept,  defeated,  dis- 
credited, and  abandoned ;  and  there  truth  came  to  him. 

"There  is  a  story  of  how  a  young  wife,  coming  to  give 
her  little  offerings  to  the  spirit  of  the  great  fig-tree,  saw  him, 
and  took  him  for  the  spirit,  so  beautiful  was  his  face  as  he 
rose. 

"The  woman  thought  he  was  the  spirit  come  down  to  ac- 
cept her  offering,  and  she  gave  it  to  him — the  cup  of  curdled 
milk — in  fear  and  trembling,  and  he  took  it.  The  woman 
went  away  again  full  of  hope  and  joy,  and  the  prince  re- 
mained in  the  grove.  He  lived  there  for  forty-nine  days, 
we  are  told,  under  the  great  fig-tree  by  the  river.  And  the  fig- 
tree  has  become  sacred  for  ever  because  he  sat  there,  and  be- 
cause there  he  found  the  truth.  We  are  told  of  it  all  in 
wonderful  trope  and  imagery — of  his  last  fight  over  sin,  and 
of  his  victory. 

"There  the  truth  came  to  him  at  last  out  of  his  own  heart. 
He  had  sought  for  it  in  man  and  in  Nature,  and  found  it  not, 
and  lo !  it  was  in  his  own  heart."10 

Whilst  he  was  musing  the  fire  kindled:  albeit  a  fire  with 
more  light  than  heat !     On  a  clear  still  evening  in  the  month 


*Jataka,  I.  67. 

10  "The  Soul  of  a  People,"  pp.   38,   39.     The  story  of  Sujata  is  told  in 
Jataka,  I.  68.  5. 


Quest  and  Conquest  21 

of  May,  at  the  time  known  in  India  as  "cowdust,"  when  the 
air  is  golden  and  the  heat  of  the  day  has  begun  to  abate,  he 
sat  at  the  foot  of  the  bo-tree11  and  setting  his  teeth,  once 
more  made  a  resolution  which  afterwards  he  commended  to 
his  followers:  "Though  skin,  nerves,  and  bone  should  waste 
away,  and  life-blood  itself  be  dried  up,  here  sit  I  till  I  attain 
Enlightenment."  The  sun  had  not  set  before  victory  was 
won,  and  the  intuition  which  is  the  gospel  of  Gotama 
Buddha  had  dawned  on  his  mind.  "When  this  knowledge 
had  arisen  within  me,  my  heart  and  mind  were  freed  from 
the  drug  of  lust,  from  the  drug  of  rebirth,  from  the  drug  of 
ignorance.  In  me,  thus  freed,  arose  knowledge  and  freedom, 
and  I  knew  that  rebirth  was  at  an  end,  and  that  the  goal 
had  been  reached."12  There  broke  from  the  lips  of  the 
seeker  a  song  of  victory  which  still  stirs  a  deep  chord  in  us, 
and  is  one  of  the  great  paeans  of  religious  literature: 

"  Many  a  house  of  life 
Hath  held  me — seeking  ever  him  who  wrought 
These  prisons  of  the  senses,   sorrow-fraught; 
Sore  was  my  ceaseless  strife! 

But  now, 
Thou   builder   of   this   tabernacle — Thou! 
I  know  thee!     Never  shalt  thou  build  again 

These  walls  of  pain, 
Nor  raise  the  roof-tree  of  deceits,  nor  lay 

Fresh  rafters  on  the  clay; 
Broken  thy  house  is,  and  the  ridge-pole  split: 

Delusion  fashioned  it ! 
Safe  pass   I  thence  deliverance  to  obtain."13 

Thus  serene  and  joyful  he  sat  as  the  brilliant  Indian  moon 
rose,  and  the  stars  came  out,  and  wood  and  river  were 
bathed  in  silver  light.  His  mental  state  is  well  described  in 
the  "Legend  of  the  Burmese  Buddha." 


11  The  Ficus  Religiose — an  exquisite  and  much  loved  tree,  at  once  majes- 
tic and  delicate. 

12  Maha-saccaka  Sutta:  "Discourses  of  Gotama,"  E.  T.,  I.  107. 

13  Dhammapada,  153-4.  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  translation.  The  "builder" 
is  of  course  Tan  ha — craving,  which  builds  and  rebuilds  "the  house  of  life" 
i.e.  the  body. 


22  Gotama  Buddha 

"Mental  exertion  and  labor  were  at  an  end.  Truth  in  its 
effulgent  beauty  encompassed  his  mind  and  shed  over  it  the 
purest  rays.  Placed  in  that  luminous  center,  Phra1*  saw  all 
beings  entangled  in  the  web  of  passions,  tossed  over  the 
raging  billows  of  the  sea  of  renewed  existences,  whirling  in 
the  vortex  of  endless  miseries,  tormented  incessantly  and 
wounded  to  the  quick  by  the  sting  of  concupiscence,  sunk  into 
the  dark  abyss  of  ignorance,  the  wretched  victims  of  an  il- 
lusory, unsubstantial,  and  unreal  world.  He  said  then  to 
himself :  'In  all  the  worlds  there  is  no  one  but  me  who  knows 
how  to  break  through  the  web  of  passions,  to  still  the  waves 
that  waft  beings  from  one  state  into  another,  to  save  them 
from  the  whirlpool  of  miseries,  to  put  an  end  to  concupiscence 
and  break  its  sting,  to  dispel  the  mist  of  ignorance  by  the 
light  of  truth,  and  thereby  lead  them  to  the  true  state  of 
Neibban.'  Having  thus  given  vent  to  the  feelings  of  com- 
passion that  pressed  on  his  benevolent  heart,  Phra,  glancing 
over  future  events,  delighted  in  contemplating  the  great  num- 
ber of  beings  who  would  avail  themselves  of  his  preachings, 
and  labor  to  free  themselves  from  the  slavery  of  passions. 
He  counted  the  multitudes  who  would  enter  the  ways  that 
lead  to  the  deliverance,  and  would  obtain  the  rewards  to  be 
enjoyed  by  those  who  will  follow  one  of  those  ways."15 

/  In  a  word,  he  had  attained  an  ecstatic  joy,  the  joy  of 
(  victory  after  long  struggle,  of  insight  after  long  groping, 
\  and  probably  of  altruism  after  long  search  for  self -emanci- 
pation. "Insight  arose,  ignorance  was  dispelled;  darkness 
/  was  done  away  and  light  dawned.  There  sat  I,  strenuous, 
/    aglow,  and  master  of  myself."16 

Gotama  has  become  an  Arahat,  seeing  clearly,  he  believed, 
the  way  to  put  an  end  to  reBifth^and^e<mscious  that  his  own 
release  from  rebirtfijiad  come. 

The  content  of  religious  experience  is  in  large  measure 
determined  by  upbringing  and  environment.  The  peace  and 
coolness   of  that  quiet  scene  became  to  him   forever   asso- 


14  Phra  is  one  of  the  Burmese  titles  for  Gotama,  who  is  called  Gaudama 
in   Burma. 

15  Pp.  98,  99. 

18  Maha-saccaka  Sutta  in  Majjhima  Nikaya:  a  dialogue  with  the  Jain  con- 
troversialist Saccaka,  which  ends  with  a  high  tribute  to  Gotama's  calmness 
and  to  the  coherence  and  clearness  of  his  argument  as  compared  with 
rival  preachers. 


Quest  and  Conquest  23 

dated  with  the  great  spiritual  victory  he  had  won;  and  he 
had  no  doubt  pondered  deeply  such  current  sayings  of  his 
people  as  the  great  prayer  of  the  Satapatha  Brahmana: 
"From  darkness  lead  me  to  light:  from  death  to  life." 

It  is  from  this  source  that  he  seems  to  have  derived  the 
terms  Samana,  which  describes  the  ascetic  recluse-life  he 
had  been  living,  and  Arahat,  which  describes  the  state  of 
emancipation  which  he  had  now  reached.  He  claims  ac- 
cordingly that  he  had  passed  from  heat  to  coolness,  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  death  to  life,  or  immortality; 
and  the  word  Amata,  ambrosia  or  deathlessness,  became  a 
synonym  for  Nibbana.  We  cannot  doubt  the  reality  of  this 
experience;  for  the  joy  and  fervor  of  it  sent  him  out  on  a 
life-long  mission  to  his  people,  and  the  achievements  of 
twenty-five  centuries  of  Buddhism  are  based  upon  it. 

With  Gotama's  interpretation  of  it  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
agree.  What  did  he  mean  by  Nibbana?  No  question,  even 
in  Buddhism,  has  been  so  variously  answered,  and  Buddhists, 
even  of  the  orthodox  Theravada  tradition  of  Burma  and 
Ceylon,  are  to  this  day  divided  between  three  interpreta- 
tions :17 

1.  Complete  extinction  of  being; 

2.  Extinction  of  the  fire  of  lust,  anger,  and  infatuation; 

3.  A  haven  of  bliss. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  a  biographer  to  deal  fully  with  later 
developments  of  his  hero's  teachings:  but  it  is  clearly  his 
duty  to  attempt  a  statement  of  what  so  central  a  doctrine 
seems  to  have  meant  to  its  author. 

In  the  first  place  it  must  be  emphasized  that  Gotama  had 
his  own  doctrine  of  the  nature  of  the  self;  the  unique  thing 
in  his  psychology  is  the  doctrine  of  Anatta.  He  considered 
the  self  to  be  a  stream  of  consciousness  (Vinnana)  of  which 
successive  moments  are  related  to  one  another,  and  yet  differ 
from  one  another — "flashpoints  of  intelligence,  cinema-films, 
thaumatrope  figures  welded  into  an  apparent  unity."18  Thus, 
whilst  he  took  over  the  current  belief  of  his  people  in  trans- 
migration, he  profoundly  modified  it,  teaching  that  no  such 


17  For   a   fuller   discussion    see   Appendix    II. 

18  "Buddhist   Psychology,"  C.  A.   F.  Rhys  Davids,  p.   14. 


24  Gotama  Buddha 

thing  as  the  "soul"  exists  in  this  life,  but  that  it  and  succes- 
sive lives  are  part  of  a  continuous  stream;  and  that  the  in- 
dividual who  is  "reborn"  is  therefore  neither  the  same  as 
the  one  who  preceded  him,  nor  is  he  another;  he  is  in  fact 
part  of  a  stream  whose  direction  is  determined  partly  by  past, 
partly  by  present  activity,  Kamma.  Kamma  is  what  deter- 
mines rebirth:  it  is  Kamma  alone  which  "passes  over."  This 
teaching  we  shall  have  to  consider  in  more  detail  later,  but 
it  must  be  grasped  now  if  Gotama's  doctrine  of  Nibbana  is  to 
be  understood. 

In  the  second  place  it  must  be  emphasized  that  even  in  this 
high  and  difficult  region  Gotama  was  "a  son  of  fact"  and  a 
teacher  of  morals.  When  he  spoke  of  Nibbana  he  was  try- 
ing to  describe  his  own  experience,  and,  being  a  moral  teacher, 
he  strove  to  describe  it  in  ethical  terms.  What  he  intended 
to  hold  up  as  the  goal  was  an  experience  which  he  himself 
had  known,  and  of  which  the  main  characteristics  were  joy 
and  peace.  The  dying  out  of  Tanha,  craving — that  was  Nib- 
bana. His  sense  of  the  supreme  value  of  this  experience  was 
the  spur  which  drove  him  on  to  a  life  of  unremitting  labor ;  he 
was  convinced  that  he  had  something  to  impart,  for  lack 
of  which  his  people  were  perishing.  He  calls  himself  "Bud- 
dha"— the  Enlightened;  "Jina" — the  Victor;  and  "Vlra" — the 
Hero;  all  in  a  moral  sense;  but  his  favorite  name  for  him- 
self henceforward  is  Tat  hag  at  a — he  who  has  reached  the 
goal;19  and  it  was  to  this  goal  that  he  was  always  urging 
others,  a  goal  only  to  be  reached  by  moral  effort,  a  sum- 
mum  bonum  of  which  the  characteristics  are  calmness,  in- 
sight, and  serene  joy,  the  end  of  the  solicitings  of  craving.  To 
the  philosophical  it  might  suffice  to  talk  of  the  cessation  of 
the  flux  of  being;  but  this  would  not  do  for  ordinary  folk. 
"Coolness  and  rest" — these  are  the  attractions  which  it  offers 
to  the  laity.  As  the  fierce  Indian  sun  makes  the  tired  body 
long  for  rest  in  some  cool  shade,  so  to  the  spirit  tired  by  the 
long  struggle  of  countless  lives,  and  tormented  by  desire, 
Nibbana  offers  an  "alluring  vision"  of  rest  and  coolness.20 


"Usually  translated   "Blessed    One." 

20  Mutti,     deliverance,     and    Santi,     peace,     are     favorite     synonyms    for 
Nibbana;  and  Sihibhuto,  cooled,  is  a  frequent  epithet  of  the  Arahat. 


Quest  and  Conquest  25 

How  far  away  this  austere  and  simple  ideal  seems  from  the 
elaborate  and  difficult  explanations  of  Buddhist  scholasticism ! 
Whether  Gotama  himself,  forced  into  the  arena  by  rival 
teachers,  was  obliged  to  use  the  weapons  of  metaphysic  is 
not  clear,  but  it  seems  certain  that  he  cannot  have  left  his 
teaching  about  Nibbana  quite  so  naively  simple. 

The  early  books  certainly  make  it  clear  that  it  was  only 
within  certain  well-defined  limits  that  he  indulged  in  meta- 
physical explanations.  "One  thing  only  do  I  teach,  O  monks, 
sorrow  and  the  uprooting  of  sorrow":  that  is  surely  an 
authentic  word  of  the  teacher,  which  defines  the  limits  of 
his  purpose  and  is  the  central  thing  in  his  ethics.  When  the 
monk  Malunkyaputta  grumbled  because  he  had  not  answered 
such  questions  as  whether  the  good  man  continues  to  exist 
after  death,  and  threatened  to  leave  the  Sangha,  Gotama 
asked  him  mildly:  "When  you  joined  our  Company  did  I 
agree  to  elucidate  such  points,  or  did  you  ask  for  such  eluci- 
dation?" and  closed  the  discussion  with  the  dry  comment: 
"Anyone  who  should  say,  'I  will  not  lead  the  religious  life 
under  the  Blessed  One  until  he  explains  all  these  points' — 
well,  he  would  die  before  he  got  that  explanation."21  In 
other  words,  he  insists  that  his  offer  to  men  is  to  heal  their 
moral  disease,  not  to  satisfy  their  intellectual  curiosity.22 
But  within  this  circumscribed  area  he  does  seem  to  have  de- 
veloped a  psychological  doctrine  of  the  self — the  doctrine  of 
Anattd — and  to  this  extent  to  have  satisfied  men's  curiosity 
about  Nibbana.  When  they  pressed  him  as  to  whether  an- 
nihilation of  greed,  hatred,  and  lust  carried  with  it  annihila- 
tion of  the  self,  he  seems  to  have  answered :  "It  depends  upon 
what  you  mean  by  the  self.  If  you  mean  some  sort  of  'soul' 
apart  from  the  aggregates  or  Skandhas — well,  no  such  thing 
exists  in  this  life.    If  you  mean  the  process  of  .becoming,  the 


21  Majjhima  NikQya,  I.  426,  quoted  by  de  la  Vallee  Poussin  in  his 
Hibbert  Lectures  "The  Way  to  Nirvana,"  perhaps  the  best  treatment  of 
the  whole  subject  yet  published. 

22  On  at  least  four  points  Gotama  refused  to  dogmatize : 

1.  Is  the  world  eternal? 

2.  Is  it  infinite? 

3.  Are  body  and    soul   identical? 

4.  Does  the  Arahat  exist  after  death? 

Buddhism  became  more  and  more  a  "middle  way"  between  different  meta- 
physical  positions. 


26  Gotama  Buddha 

stream  of  metal  throbs  with  Tanha  and  Kamma  as  its 
living  core,  then  that  is  certainly  annihilated  in  Nibbdna. 
Sabbd  anatta;  all  things  are  without  any  underlying  'self 
or  'soul.'  How  can  that  be  annihilated  which  has  never  ex- 
isted? It  is  Tanha  which  frives,  the  delusion  of  existence. 
How  shall  that  not  be  annihilated  which  is  the  source  of  all 
our  sorrow?"  In  other  words,  we  cannot  describeJ&'fr&gftg 
until  we  have  masjtfirfidjthe  true  nature  of  the  self ;  and  there 
is  no  self  in  ihe  usuaj^  sense  !23  Even  so  we  can  describe 
Nibbdna  best  by  negatives!  It  is  the  absence  of  evil:  no 
less  it  is  the  absence  of  toil  and  heat  and  sorrow.24  The  first 
step  is  to  get  rid  of  wrong  notions  of  self?  and  from  this 
there  will  follow  the  conquest  of  egoism  and  the  attainment 
of  peace.25 

Professor  de  la  Vallee  Poussin  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
Gotama  taught  one  thing  to  the  elect,  and  another  thing  to 
the  simple.  He  maintains  that  to  the  elect  he  was  frankly 
a  rationalist  teaching  annihilation,  and  gives  us  the  follow- 
ing instructive  simile: 

"A  Buddha  is  a  tiger,  or  rather  a  tigress.  This  tigress  has 
to  transport  her  cub,  and  accordingly  takes  it  into  her  mouth ; 
she  holds  it  between  her  double  set  of  teeth.  But  for  the 
teeth,  the  cub  would  fall;  but  if  the  teeth  were  to  be  tightly 
closed,  it  would  be  crushed.  In  the  same  way  a  Buddha  saves 
beings,  transports  them  across  the  ocean  of  transmigration, 
by  the  parallel  teaching  of  permanence  and  impermanence, 
Self  and  Selflessness,  bliss  of  Nirvana,  and  annihilation  in 
Nirvana.  Permanence,  Self,  bliss  of  Nirvana :  so  many  false- 
hoods. Useful  falsehoods:  but  for  them  one  would  give  up 
the  religious  training  towards  deliverance.  Impermanence, 
selflessness,  annihilation:  so  many  truths.  Dangerous  truths 
like  a  serpent  with  a  jewel  in  its  hood:  it  requires  a  clever 
hand  to  take  the  jewel.     In  the  same  way  few  men  are  able 


28  Dr.  D.  T.  Suzuki  has  well  said:  "To  postulate  an  independent  atman 
outside  the  combination  of  the  five  skandhas  ...  is  to  unreservedly  wel- 
come egoism  with  all  its  pernicious  corollaries."  ("Outlines  of  Mahayana 
Buddhism,"  p.  32.) 

24  Cf.   Section  XV  of  the  Dhammapada. 

25  "I  see  no  other  single  impediment,  O  monks,  which  so  hinders  man- 
kind as  the  impediment  of  ignorance.  .  .  .  All  misfortunes  are  rooted  in 
ignorance  and  craving."     Itivuttaka,   14-40. 


Quest  and  Conquest  27 

to  avoid  being  crushed  by  these  sublime  and  terrible  truths. 
Selflessness  wrongly  understood  would  lead  to  the  wrong  view 
that  there  is  no  survival ;  the  doctrine  of  annihilation  in  Nir- 
vana would  originate  despair  or  distrust. 

"Therefore,  Sakyamuni  has  been  obscure  on  these  points, 
and  did  not  avoid  some  contradictions;  and,  when  an  in- 
quirer was  bold  enough  to  ask  for  a  plain  answer,  he  plainly 
answered :  'You  shall  not  know.    Cela  ne  vous  regarde  pas.'  "2Q 

I  am  not  prepared  to  go  as  far  as  this,  for  I  believe  that 
he  remained  to  the  end  of  his  life  an  agnostic  as  to  what 
full  Nibbana  really  meant,  satisfied  himself  with  his  own 
moral  experience,  and  convinced  that  to  all  his  people  here 
was  an  experience  sufficiently  vital  and  real  to  carry  them 
on  into  that  Beyond,  whose  nature  it  is  impossible  to  describe 
except  in  negative  terms,  because  it  will  be  like  nothing  which 
we  have  known  in  this  life.  As  a  lover  finds  it  impossible 
to  describe  the  inwardness  of  his  experience  to  any  except  one 
who  has  shared  it,  so  Gotama  must  have  striven  in  vain  to 
make  Nibbana  a  living  reality  to  the  rank  and  file  of  his 
people.  They  for  their  part  no  doubt  interpreted  his  teaching 
according  to  their  own  preconceptions  and  needs.  That  is 
the  fate  of  all  great  teachers.  Doubts  as  to  the  possibility 
of  enlightening  them  were  his  first  temptation.  During  a 
month  of  meditation  which  followed  his  great  experience  the 
Devil  assailed  him  in  the  form  of  depression  and  doubt 
whether  what  he  had  so  hardly  won  could  be  handed  on.  to 
a  world  which  would  surely  find  these  lessons  both  difficult 
and  distasteful.27  In  technical  language  Gotama  was  tempted 
to  remain  a  Paccekabuddha  (a  Buddha  for  his  own  sake) 
rather  than  to  become  a  Sammasambuddha  (universal  Bud- 
dha, teaching  all).  Like  Elijah  he  was  overwhelmed  with 
a  sense  of  loneliness  and  dejection,  but  to  him  also  there  came 
a  still  small  voice  which  nerved  him  for  his  high  task. 

The  records  tell  us  that  Brahma  himself  came  to  reas- 
sure him,  and  to  rekindle  his  deep  compassion  for  humanity. 


26  "The  Way  to  Nirvana,"  p.   137. 

27  Mahavagga  1,  5,  2.  For  Mara's  testimony  to  Gotama's  faultless  be- 
havior during  the  seven  years  that  he  dogged  his  footsteps,  see  "Sacred 
Books  of  the  East,"  XII.  71. 


28  Gotama  Buddha 

"  Open,  O  wise  one,  the  door  of  Eternity ; 
Preach,   O  thou  stainless,  the  truth  thou  hast  found. 
Thou  who  art   sorrow-free,  preach  to  the  sorrowing, 
Standing  aloft  let  them  hear  the  glad  sound!" 

Certain  it  is  that  he  braced  himself  for  the  task,  and  set  out 
calm  and  convinced  upon  his  great  mission. 

That  Gotama  thus  "had  compassion  on  the  world"  and 
came  down  from  the  "terraced  heights~*of  wisdom"  to  help 
those  "toiling  on  the  plains"  is  in  itself  enough  to  justify 
the  Bodhisattva  ideal  which  came  gradually  to  supersede  that 
of  the  Arahat.  The  Mahayana  in  claiming  to  embody  the  true 
spirit  of  Gotama  is  to  that  extent  justified. 

He  sought  first  his  old  teachers  at  Rajagaha,  but  found 
that  they  were  dead,  and  then  walked  100  miles  or  more 
in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  Benares  in  order  that  his 
five  disciples,  purified  by  long  asceticism,  might  have  the 
first  opportunity  of  learning  the  good  news.  On  his  way 
the  Jain  ascetic  Upaka .  met  him  and  thus  addressed  him : 
"Placid  and  serene  is  thy  countenance.  Who  is  thy  teacher  ?" 
To  whom  he  replied  in  these  verses : 

"All-conqueror  I,  knower  of  all, 
From  every  soil  and  stain  released, 
Renouncing  all,  from  craving  ceased, 
Self-taught;  whom  should  I  Master  call? 

"  That  which  I  know  I  learned  of  none, 
My  fellow  is  not  on  the  earth. 
Of  human  or  of  heavenly  birth 
To  equal  me  there  is  not  one. 

"  I  truly  have  attained  release, 
The  world's  unequalled  teacher  I. 
Alone  enlightened  perfectly, 
I  dwell  in  everlasting  peace. 

"  Now  to  Benares  Town  I  press 
To  set  the  Truth-wheel  whirling  round. 
In  this  blind  world  I  go  to  sound 
The  throbbing  drum  of  deathlessness." 

"It  may  be  so,  friend,  it  may  be  so,"  said  the  skeptical 
Upaka,  and  went  on  his  way.     For  he  had  been  taught  to 


Quest  and  Conquest  29 

look  upon  Vardhamana  as  the  true  Jina,  or  conqueror,  and 
this  "Wheel"  of  Gotama's  makes  a  big  claim.28 

After  wandering  from  place  to  place,  Gotama  came  to 
Benares.  The  five  monks  saw  him  coming  and  agreed  among 
themselves  to  snub  him  as  a  renegade,  but  his  radiant  coun- 
tenance and  the  serene  dignity  of  his  bearing  won  them 
over.  He  bade  them  no  longer  address  him  as  "friend 
Gotama"  but  as  Tathagata,  and  he  began  to  instruct  them, 
giving  to  them  the  teaching  known  as  Dhammacakkappavatana 
Sutta — "The  rolling  of  the  victorious  wheel"  or  "The  es- 
tablishing of  the  Kingdom"  as  it  is  sometimes  rendered  by 
Western  writers.29  The  "Discourse  of  the  Middle  Way" 
would  better  express  its  contents.  We  have  only  an  abbre- 
viated version  of  it,  disappointing  in  its  dry  brevity,  and 
hardly  worthy  of  the  occasion.  It  was  a  notable  one !  "His- 
tory," it  has  been  well  said,  "knows  no  chapters  so  beauti- 
ful and  noble  as  those  which  tell  of  the  coming  of  the  great 
prophets  and  founders  of  religions  to  the  men  of  their  time. 
The  story  of  Isaiah  in  Jerusalem,  of  Socrates  in  Athens,  of 
Zoroaster  on  the  uplands  of  Iran,  of  Gautama  in  the  deer 
park  of  Benares — on  all  these  immortal  stories  there  lies  a 
light  beyond  the  light  of  time.  They  tell  how  great  new 
thoughts  of  the  eternal  things  came  to  men  through  the 
human  medium  of  a  noble  personality,  how  like  magnets 
they  drew  to  the  new  teacher  the  flower  of  the  noble  youth 
of  the  time,  who  followed  the  Master — 

"  'Learned  his  great  language,  caught  his  clear  accents, 
Made  him  their  pattern  to  live  and  to  die/ 

"They  one  and  all  tell  also  of  the  great  fights  of  the  spirit 
that  followed  the  advent  of  the  new  teacher.  'All  things 
are  at  odds,'  said  Emerson,  'when  God  lets  a  new  thinker 
loose  upon  the  planet.'  "30    Such  was  Gotama,  and  it  is  clear, 


28  "Discourses  of  Gotama,"  tr.  by  Silacara,  II.  14.  Other  records  make 
Upaka  a   Brahmin  or  an  Ajivika. 

29  "To  set  foiling  the  royal  chariot  wheel  of  a  universal  empire  of 
truth  and  righteousness"  is  Dr.  Rhys  Davids's  rendering  ("Buddhism," 
p.  45).  In  his  Hibbert  Lectures  Dr.  Davids  has  shown  very  convincingly 
that  Gotama  fulfilled  the  Chakkavatti  ideal,  yet  transcended  and  sub- 
limated it,  much  as  Jesus  did  that  of  the  Messiah. 

80  D.  S.  Cairns,  "The  Reasonableness  of  the  Christian  Faith,"  pp.  165- 
167. 


30  Gotama  Buddha 

in  spite  of  the  meager  reports,  that  he  had  a  new  and  stirring 
message  to  deliver,  and  that  it  constrained  and  uplifted  him. 
It  was  in  this  exalted  mood  that  he  preached  his  first  "ser- 
mon." 

It  was  clearly  born  of  his  own  heroic  experience,  and  in  it 
he  sets  forth  his  religion  as  a  Golden  Mean.  As  a  lyre  gives 
the  right  tone  only  if  the  string  is  stretched  neither  too  much 
nor  too  little,  so  is  it  with  the  life  of  man.  So  he  taught  them 
later,  when  his  mind  had  had  time  to  work  upon  his  experience. 
Now  he  gave  them  the  following  key  to  truth :  "Two  extremes 
are  there,  O  brethren,  which  the  recluse  must  avoid — thejife 
of  passion  and  of  sensualjty  on  the  one  hand,  a  low  and  pagan 
way,  ignoble  and  profiting  nothing,  and  on  the  other  hand 
self-torture,  which  is  also  ignoble  and  unprofitable,  as  well 
as  very  painful.  The  path  which  I  have  discovered  is  a 
path  which  opens  the  eyes,  gives  understanding  and  leads  to 
peace,  tn  Nihhn^n.  It  is  the  Noble  Eight-Fold  path."  He 
then  goes  on  to  tell  them  of  the  Four  Noble  Truths,  in  which 
he  traces  the  ori^'n  of  suffering  to  craving  for  such  things 
as  gratification  of  the  senses  or  for_lhe  joys  o£  life  after 
death,  "Ui  Iof  prosperity  iri  this  "World ;  and  shows  how  suf- 
fering can  only  be  put  "away  if  such  craving  is  first  killed 
out.  It  is  to  attain  this  goal  that  "noble  youth  leave  home 
and  go  forth  to  the  homeless  life,  and  the  way  to  it  is  the 
Middle  Path/'  i.e.  the  "Noble  Eight-Fold  Path,"  Right  Views, 
Right  Aspirations,  Right  _  Speech,  Right  Conduct, "  Right 
Means_  of  Livelihood,  Right  Effort,  Right  Mindedness,  and 
Rights  Rapture. 

Of  this  sermon  Professor  Rhys  Davids  has  written: 

"There  is  not  a  word  about  God  or  the  soul,  not  a  word 
about  the  Buddha.  It  seems  simple,  almost  jejune;  so  thin 
and  weak  that  one  wonders  how  it  can  have  formed  the 
foundation  for  a  system  so  mighty  in  its  historical  results. 
But  the  simple  words  are  pregnant  with  meaning.  Their  im- 
plication was  clear  enough  to  the  hearers  to  whom  they  are 
addressed."31 

Yet  we  cannot  but  wish  that  some  fuller  record  had  come 
down  to  us.     Though  these  words  came  out  of  the  heart 


81  "Early   Buddhism,"   p.    53. 


Quest  and  Conquest  31 

of  a  great  experience,  and  therefore,  meager  as  they  are,  may- 
have  carried  conviction  to  the  five  who  had  suffered  all  things 
with  him,  yet  one  cannot  doubt  that  Gotama  spoke  more  fully 
and  with  a  wealth  of  illustration  and  comment  which  has  not 
been  preserved.  And  this  is  true  of  many  of  his  discourses 
which  are  reported  to  have  had  an  immediate  response  in  the 
"conversion"  of  his  hearers.  "Religion  is  caught  rather  than 
taught"  and  it  was  often  the  contagion  of  his  own  joy  rather 
than  the  substance  of  his  teaching  which  won  their  allegiance. 

We  are  to  picture  him  calm  and  serene,  with  a  note  of 
triumph  and  joy  which  was  its  own  best  apologetic.  Count- 
less statues  of  him  show  him  standing  or  seated  thus,  teaching 
with  the  certainty  and  precision  of  a  modern  teacher  of 
science,  and  occasionally  one  is  to  be  found  with  the  quizzical 
smile  of  a  Socrates.  To  those  who  argued  he  proved  a  re- 
morseless antagonist,  but  most  capitulated  without  a  struggle, 
charmed  by  his  winsomeness  and  convinced  by  his  logic,  or 
more  often  by  his  analogies. 

His  great  discovery  seems  to  be  an  application  of  the  cur- 
rent medical  theory  of  his  day  in  the  moral  sphere,  and  it 
carried  immediate  conviction.  In  fact  it  seems  so  simple  as 
to  be  almost  axiomatic:  if  there  is  suffering  there  is  a  cause 
for  it ;  jo  get  at  the  disease  we  must  get  at  its  cause.  Suf- 
fering is  causedbv  craving  of  a  wrong  sort:  tO-get—trcT  of 
this  craving  we  must  busy  ourselves  with  right  moral  con- 
duct. 

The  second  "sermon"  is  said  to  have  been  delivered  four 
days  later,  to  the  same  five  ascetics,  and  is  called  "The 
Anatta-lakkhana  Sutta."32  It  took  them  a  stage  further: 
and  they  became  Arahats,  first  Kondana,  and  later  the  other 
four.  This  sermon  sets  out  to  combat  the  "soul"  theories 
of  the  ordinary  man.  Men  desire  wrongly  because  they  think 
wrongly.  The  first  stagft  in  the  PflfV>  ,g  ri*gbt  thinking 
Gotama  shows  how  emancipation  comes  through  right  think- 
ing; let  them  apply  to  the  "soul"  or  "self"  a  process  of  an- 
alysis: they  will  find  that  it  is  made  up  of  so  many  qualities 
and  characteristics,  so  many  sensations  and  perceptions,  and 


82  Vinaya,  I.  14.     Samyutta  Nikaya,  III.  66. 


32  Gotama  Buddha 

therefore  has  no  real  being  that  we  should  desire  to  be  reborn. 
"Think  you,  O  monks,  that  form  is  permanent  or  transitory, 
or  that  sensation,  perception,  is  permanent  or  transitory?" 
"They  are  transitory,"  replied  the  five.  "And  of  that  which  is 
transitory  and  evil,  and  liable  to  change  can  it  be  said,  'This 
is  myself,  my  soul  ?'  "  "Nay,  truly  it  cannot  be  said,"  the  five 
argued.  In  this  way  he  produces  in  his  disciples  a  feeling  of 
contempt  for  physical  life.  "What  is  the  self  but  a  bundle  of 
attributes?"  And  he  replaces  the  emotion  of  desire  for  life 
by  the  emotion  of  disgust.  This  method  was  carried  to  a  fine 
art  as  the  system  developed,  until  meditation  in  graveyards 
and  upon  skeletons  by  the  wayside  is  recommended  as  a  ready 
means  of  securing  such  detachment  and  aloofness  from  the 
things  of  sense  as  will  lead  on  to  freedom. 

Is  it  not  the  mere  skeleton  of  a  sermon  which  has  come 
down  to  us?  But  the  "third  sermon,"  preached  to  the  lay 
community  on  a  mountain-side  near  Gaya,  is  more  like  preach- 
ing, and  less  like  a  classroom  lecture;  possibly  because  the 
audience  now  consisted  of  certain  young  nobles,  and  others, 
mostly  the  instructed  "monks  with  matted  hair,"  or  Jatilas, 
fire-worshipers,  who  had  added  themselves  to  his  company, 
and  needed  different  handling.  The  occasion  of  it  was  a 
conflagration  which  broke  out  in  the  jungle  as  the  teacher 
was  seated  with  his  disciples  "on  the  Elephant  Rock  near 
Gaya,  with  the  beautiful  valley  of  Rajagaha  stretched  out 
before  them."33  It  is  known  as  the  "Fire  Sermon,"  Aditta- 
pariyaya  Sutta,  and  is  one  of  the  most  typical  and  famous  of 
Buddhist  utterances :  "All  things,  O  Bhikkhus,  are  aflame,  the 
eye  is  aflame,  forms  are  aflame,  impressions  received  by  the 
eye  are  aflame;  and  all  sensations  that  arise  from  these  im- 
pressions received  through  the  eye  are  aflame.  And  what  is 
the  flame?  It  is  the  flame  of  lust,  of  anger,  and  of  infatua- 
tion; birth,  old  age,  death,  mourning,  and  despair;  all  are 
set  on  fire  with  this  flame." 

So  he  goes  on,  taking  the  other  sense  organs  in  turn,  and 
including  the  mind  amongst  them,  showing  that  all  the  world 


88  Mahavagga,  I.  21   (For  the  full  text  of  the  sermon  see  Warren,  "Bud- 
dhism in  translations,"  pp.   351-353). 


Quest  and  Conquest  33 

is  a  conflagration,  till  he  leads  his  disciples  to  disgust  for 
sense  impressions  and  to  detachment  from  desire.  "So  is  the 
disciple  shorn  of  desire,  so  is  he  freed,  and  so  he  knows  that 
he  is  free;  he  knows  that  the  process  of  becoming  is  at  an 
end,  that  he  has  attained  to  the  pure  life,  that  he  has  done 
what  had  to  be  done,  and  has  put  off  mortality  for  ever."34 

This  and  similar  preaching  was  so  successful  that  the 
number  of  Arahats  grew  very  rapidly.  Not  all  were  like  the 
Teacher  and  the  five  ascetics  who  after  long  striving  found 
release :  a  party  of  young  nobles  who  were  very  worldly  were 
converted  en  bloc  as  they  were  sporting  in  the  forest,  and 
soon  there  were  sixty  Arahats. 

These  after  a  period  of  instruction  Gotama  sent  out  on  a 
preaching  tour:  "Go  forth,"  he  said,  "on  a  journey  that  shall 
be  for  the  good  of  many  and  for  their  happiness.  Go  forth 
in  compassion  towards  the  world  for  the  weal  of  gods  and 
men.  Go  forth  in  pairs,  but  to  each  his  own  work.  Teach 
the  beneficent  Law;  reveal  the  holy  life  to  men  blinded  with 
the  dust  of  desire.  They  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge.  Teach 
them  the  Law."35 

We  may  question  this  sending  of  men  so  recently  con- 
verted. But  Gotama  seems  to  have  realized  that  the  young 
convert  needs  some  exercise  of  the  will,  and  that  there  is  no 
surer  way  of  testing  one's  beliefs  than  by  attempting  to  teach 
them  to  simple  folk.  And  the  more  important  part  of  their 
message  was  a  call  to  righteous  living  which  it  needed  no 
subtlety  of  mind  nor  any  training  in  metaphysic  to  under- 
stand. If  the  masses  could  not  understand  Nibbana,  they 
could  at  any  rate  set  out  upon  the  Eight-Fold  Path.  And  who 
should  teach  them  so  appealingly  as  fellow-voyagers  who  be- 
lieved that  they  themselves  had  found  both  chart  and  com- 
pass? 


34  Rhys  Davids,  "Buddhism,"  p.  59.  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids  prefers  to  trans- 
late Tanhd.  by  "craving":  I  agree. 

*  Samyutta  Nikaya,  I.  105.  In  "Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.  112, 
it  is  stated  that  they  were  sent  out  "one  by  one." 


CHAPTER    III 

GOTAMA  AT  THE  HEIGHT 
OF  HIS  POWER 

The  fragrance  of  the  righteous  travels  far  and  wide. — 
Dhammapada  54. 

"His  progress  was  a  triumph  of  gladness." 

•  E.  W.  Hopkins. 

That  the  teaching  of  the  first  Buddhist  missionaries  was 
eagerly  welcomed  seems  clear;  for  they  were  filled  with  joy 
and  conviction,  and  the  times  were  fully  ripe  for  the  moral 
teaching  that  they  had  to  give.  It  has  been  contended  that  it 
was  chiefly  amongsl_lh£.:nr>hi1ity  that  this  teaching  found  ac- 
ceptance, and  the  reason  has  been  suggested  that  the  warriors 
and  rajas  of  the  day  gave  the  new  religion  a  ready  hearing 
because  it  was  set  up  in  opr^itinn  *n  f1in  n  ..nomine  an(j  be_ 
cause  they  reco"gntZecl  in  Gotama  one  of  themselves.  "He 
spoke,"  says  Hopkins,  "to  glad  hearers,  who  heard  repeated 
loudly  now  as  a  religious  truth  what  often  they  had  said  de- 
spitefully  to  themselves  in  private"  :x  and  Professor  Oldenberg 
finds  in  early  Buddhism  a  decided  predilection  for  the  aris- 
tocracy.2 

No  doubt  these  were  elements  in  the  success  of  the  new  re- 
ligion, but  it  was  at  heart  a  democratic  movement  and  it  was 
not  essentially  anti-Brahmin:  into  the  Sangha  Brahmins, 
kings,  warriors,  cultivators,  and  men  and  women  of  low  caste, 
and  of  no  caste,  were  equally  welcomed.3  Preaching  was  in 
the  vernaculars  of  Magadha  and  Kosala,  and  lay  folk  could 
understand  much  of   it.     The  two   first  lay  disciples  were 


1  Hopkins,  "Religions  of  India,"  p.  304. 

2  Oldenberg,   "Buddha,"   E.   T.,  p.   157. 

3  Mahavagga,  I.   15. 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    35 

Tapussa  and  Bhallika,  merchants,  and  Upali,  a  barber  of  the 
court  of  the  Sakyas,  was  very  early  ordained  and  attained  a 
position  of  leadership  in  the  Sangha.  He  is  indeed  credited 
with  the  main  share  in  compiling  the  Vinaya  or  code  of  disci- 
pline for  the  new  Order. 

Amongst  the  first  converts  were  three  brothers  Kasyapa,4 
fire-worshipers  or  Jatilas,  and  two  others  destined  to  become 
leaders:  Sariputta  and  Moggallana,  both  Brahmins,  whilst 
Ananda  and  Devadatta  were  both  of  the  warrior  caste ;  so  that 
even  in  its  inner  circle  the  Sangha  was  fairly  representative. 
The  fact  that  Gotama  himself  promoted  Sariputta  and  Mog- 
gallana to  positions  of  leadership  suggests  how  far  he  was 
from  desiring  to  organize  an  anti-Brahmin  campaign.  Yet 
there  is  no  question  about  the  frankness,  with  which  he  dis- 
sected and  ridiculed  Brahmin  claims  to  supremacy. 

The  traditional  story  of  the  conversion  of  these  two  friends 
seems  probable  enough.  They  were  wandering  ascetics,  dis- 
ciples of  Sanjaya,  and  had  promised  one  another  that  he  who 
should  first  find  salvation  (Amata  or  Ambrosia)  would  tell 
the  other.  One  day  Sariputta  saw  Asajji,  one  of  Gotama's 
first  five  disciples,  on  his  begging  ground ;  struck  by  his  noble 
and  calm  bearing,  he  asked  him  who  was  his  teacher,  and  what 
he  taught.  "There  is  a  great  sage,  a  son  of  the  Sakyas,  who 
has  gone  forth  to  the  homeless  life;  he  is  my  teacher,  and  it 
is  his  doctrine  I  profess,"  said  Asajji,  and  quoted  this  verse: 

"  That  all  things  from  a  cause  are  sprung 
This  hath  the  Teacher  shown: 
How  each  shall  to  its  ending  come 
This  too  he  hath  made  known." 

On  hearing  this  Sariputta  attained  "to  the  pure  eye  for  the 
truth"  or,  in  other  words,  was  converted  to  the  Buddhist  faith  ! 
That  the  universe  is  orderly  and  that  there  is  a  key  to  its 
workings — this  is  to  many  minds  a  gospel  indeed.  He  hurried 
off  to  Moggallana,  told  him  that  he  had  found  Ambrosia,  and 
they  were  both  admitted  to  the  Order.5    About  a  week  after- 


4  Cf.    Majjhima    Nikaya-Assalayana   Sutta   and    Tevijja    Sutta   of    Dlgha 
Nikaya,  both  quoted  in  full  by  Dr.  T.  Rhys  Davids,  Hibbert  Lectures,  II. 
*Mahavagga,  I.  23   ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.   144,  145). 


36  Gotama  Buddha 

wards  Moggallana  dozed  when  he  should  have  been  meditat- 
ing, and  Gotama  drily  reminded  him  that  "Torpor  is  not 
the  same  as  Aryan  silence/'6  But  the  two  friends  made 
rapid  progress:  they  became  pillars  of  the  Sangha,  and  some 
parts  of  the  Abhidhamma,  the  metaphysical  section  of  the 
Buddhist  books,  are,  I  think  unjustly,  attributed  to  them.7 

Another  great  convert  of  these  early  days  was  Maha  Kas- 
sapa,  who,  like  his  master,  had  given  up  a  beautiful  wife  and 
a  position  of  wealth  and  influence  to  seek  a  way  of  salvation ; 
it  is  he  who  is  recorded  to  have  called  the  first  Buddhist  Coun- 
cil together  after  Gotama's  death,  and  is  the  reputed  author 
of  this  poem  in  praise  of  the  master  [and  of  himself] : 

"  In  the  whole  of  Buddha's  following, 
Saving  alone  the  mighty  Master's  self, 
I  stand  the  foremost  in  ascetic  ways: 
No  man  doth  practise  them  so  far  as  I. 
The  Master  hath  my  fealty  and  love, 
And  all  the  Buddha's  ordinance  is  done. 
Low  have  I  laid  the  heavy  load  I  bore, 
Cause  for  rebirth  is  found  in  me  no  more. 
For  never  thought  for  raiment,  nor  for  food, 
Nor  where  to  rest  doth  the  great  mind  affect, 
Immeasurable,  of  our  Gotama. 

"  No  more  than  spotless  lotus-blossom  takes 
A  mark  from  water;  to  self-sacrifice 
Continually  prone,  he  from  the  sphere 
Threefold  of  new  becoming  is  detached. 
The  neck  of  him  is  like  the  fourfold  tower 
Of  mindfulness  set  up;  yea,  the  great  Seer 
Hath  faith  and  confidence  for  hands;  above, 
The  brow  of  him  is  insight ;  nobly  wise, 
He  ever  walketh  in  cool  blessedness."8 

In  this  tribute  to  Gotama  we  note  the  impression  which 
he  made  upon  his  contemporaries;  not  only  is  his  asceticism 
praised,  and  his  noble  wisdom  and  great  powers  of  mind, 

8  TheragathS,   CCLXIII. 

7  And  to  Sariputta  is  attributed  the  Niddesa  or  commentary  on  the 
Sutta  Nipata. 

s  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids,  "Songs  of  the  Brethren,"  pp.  367,  368  (Theragatha, 
CCLXI). 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    37 

but  Kassapa  attributes  to  him  faith,  and  confesses  to  a  per- 
sonal loyalty  and  devotion  which  the  Master  kindled  in  him. 
We  cannot  doubt  that  it  was  this,  even  more  than  his  teach- 
ing, which  nerved  these  early  followers  and  gave  them  the 
sense  of  joy  and  of  well-being  which  rings  through  their 
verses.  That  Kassapa  went  to  extremes  of  asceticism  seems 
clear;  there  is  another  song  of  his  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
gruesome  thing  in  all  religious  literature,  and  which  reveals 
the  revolting  length  to  which  Buddhist  detachment  could  go 
in  those  early  days  of  enthusiasm: 

"  Down  from  my  mountain  lodge  I  came  one  day 
And  made  my  round  for  alms  about  the  streets. 
A  leper  there  I  saw  eating  his  meal, 
(And  as  was  meet,  that  he  might  have  a  chance,) 
In  (silent)  courtesy  I  halted  at  his  side. 
He  with  his  hand  all  leprous  and  diseased 
Put  in  my  bowl  a  morsel;  as  he  threw, 
A  finger  mortifying,  broke  and  fell. 
Leaning  against  a  wall  I  ate  my  share, 
Nor  at  the  time  nor  after  felt  disgust. 
For  only  he  who  taketh  as  they  come 
The  scraps  of  food,  medicine  from  excrement, 
The  couch  beneath  the  tree,  the  patchwork  robe, 
Stands  as  a  man  in  north,  south,  east,  or  west."9 

Such  was  Kassapa;  and  we  shall  see  later  what  were  the 
qualities  for  which  each  of  the  other  leaders  of  the  Sangha 
was  most  honored.  But  there  were  many  other  early  con- 
verts not  so  eminent:  there  was  for  instance  Yasa,  a  young 
noble,  who  very  early  in  his  ministry  came  to  Gotama  and 
became  an  Arahat,  whilst  his  father,  mother,  and  wife  be- 
came lay  adherents.  The  Mahavagga  tells  us  that  Yasa  was 
brought  up  in  great  luxury  and,  disgusted  at  the  sight  of  the 
sleeping  women  of  the  harem,  came  to  Gotama  crying:  "Alas ! 
What  sorrow  !  What  danger !"  To  him  Gotama  first  talked 
about  the  merit  obtained  by  almsgiving,  the  beauties  of  moral- 
ity, heaven,  the  evils  of  vanity,  and  the  dust  of  desire.  When 
he  saw  that  the  mind  of  the  noble  youth  was  prepared,  he 
preached  the  more  essentially  Buddhistic  doctrine  of  suffer- 


8  "Songs  of  the  Brethren,"  p.  362   (Theragdtha,  CCLXI). 


38  Gotama  Buddha 

ing,  its  cause,  and  the  way  to  escape.  And  because  Yasa 
was  fit  for  such  instruction,  we  are  told  that  "as  a  clean 
cloth  absorbs  the  dye"  he  absorbed  the  teaching  that  what- 
soever is  subject  to  birth  is  also  subject  to  death. 

Had  he  been  less  prepared,  Gotama  would  have  been  con- 
tent to  lead  him  much  more  gradually  from  the  elements  to 
the  arcana  of  his  teaching.  It  is  quite  clear  that  to  the 
masses  he  contented  himself  with  preaching  a  simple  morality 
like  that  embodied  in  the  edicts  of  Asoka  and  that  only  as  in- 
dividuals showed  themselves  ready  for  the  more  difficult  teach- 
ing did  he  impart  it.  "First  study  the  person,"  says  a  Buddhist 
proverb  of  Japan,  "then  teach  the  Law." 

Gotama's  family  were  also  amongst  the  earliest  converts; 
and  they  all,  except  Rahula,  became  lay  adherents. 

During  these  six  long  years  of  painful  search  and  final 
victory,  reports  had  reached  the  old  Chief  at  Kapilavatthu. 
Impatient  to  see  his  son,  he  sent  messengers  to  him  at  Raja- 
gaha.  One  after  another  they  came  under  the  spell  of 
Gotama,  and  forgot  their  messages  in  the  greatness  of  their 
enthusiasm  for  the  new  teacher;  but  at  last  Kaludayin,  a 
former  playmate  of  Gotama  and  now  Minister  of  State,  was 
sent  to  urge  his  return.  On  the  full-moon  day  of  Phalgun  he 
came,  and  urged  that,  in  this  perfect  weather  when  "the  trees 
are  crimson  with  blossom  and  the  hour  big  with  hope," 
Gotama  should  return.10  He  prevailed,  and  in  the  early  spring 
the  company  set  out  for  Kapilavatthu,  a  journey  of  400  miles, 
which  they  accomplished  by  slow  stages ;  traveling  about  seven 
miles  a  day,  and  enjoying  the  beauty  of  the  fresh  fields  and 
flowering  groves,  they  came  to  the  little  city. 

The  "Legend  of  the  Burmese  Buddha"  describes  the  beauty 
of  the  Indian  springtide,  a  delightful  time  for  one  of  the 
pilgrimage-picnics  dear  to  the  Indian  heart,  and  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Kaludayin  these  words: 

"The  cold  season  is  over,  the  warm  season  has  just  begun, 
this  is  now  the  proper  time  to  travel  through  the  country; 
nature  wears  a  green  aspect;  the  trees  and  the  forests  are  in 
full  blossom;  the  roads  are  lined  to  right  and  left  with  trees 


10  Theragatha,   CCXXXIII   ("Songs  of  the  Brethren,"  p.  249). 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    39 

loaded  with  fragrant  blossoms  and  delicious  fruits;  the  pea- 
cock proudly  expands  his  magnificent  tail ;  birds  of  every  de- 
scription fill  the  air  with  their  ravishing  and  melodious  sing- 
ing; at  this  season  heat  and  cold  are  equally  temperate,  and 
nature  is  scattering  profusely  these  choicest  gifts."11 

Men,  women,  and  children  came  out  from  the  city  to  greet 
the  wanderer  and  found  him  resting  in  a  grove.  Very  ten- 
derly, but  very  firmly,  he  dealt  with  his  old  father,  who  com- 
plained that  this  mendicant  life  was  no  life  for  the  son  of  an 
illustrious  line;  far  different  was  the  custom  of  kings.  "This," 
said  Gotama,  "is  the  custom  of  the  Buddhas,  and  to  their 
lineage  do  I  belong" ;  and  in  a  verse  reminded  his  father  that 
the  good  man  wins  happiness,  hereafter  as  well  as  in  this 
life.12  Eventually  Suddhodana  was  convinced,  and  joined 
the  Sangha.  After  supper  the  women  of  the  household  came 
and  paid  him  homage,  except  the  Princess  Yasodhara,  who 
felt,  not  unreasonably,  that  it  was  for  the  wanderer  to  seek 
her  out.  We  are  told  that,  accompanied  by  Sariputta  and 
Moggallana,  he  went  in  to  find  her  and  she,  running  to  meet 
him,  laid  her  head  upon  his  feet.  Yet  there  was  some  bitter- 
ness in  her  heart,  and  she  is  said  to  have  asked  passionately 
for  the  inheritance  of  the  little  Rahula.  "I  will  give  him  a 
more  excellent  inheritance,"  said  the  ascetic  and  bade  Mog- 
gallana shave  his  head,  and  admit  him  to  the  Sangha.1*  After 
this  they  set  out  again  for  Rajagaha. 

On  the  way,  in  the  mango  grove  of  Anupiya  he  met  a  num- 
ber of  the  Sakya  princes,  amongst  them  Ananda,  Anuruddha, 
and  Devadatta,  his  cousins,  all  of  whom  were  destined  to 
play  a  great  part  in  his  life;  either  then  or  later  they  were 
all  admitted  to  the  Sangha. 

Arriving  at  Rajagaha  the  teacher  was  greeted  by  Ana- 
thapindika,  a  merchant  of  Savatthi,  with  a  munificent  gift  of 


11  P.  170. 

12Dhp.  168. 

""Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.  208,  209.  The  admission  of 
children  led  to  serious  misunderstandings  at  a  later  date,  and  it  is  laid 
down  in  the  Vinaya  that  it  was  not  to  continue,  except  with  the  full 
sanction  of  the  boy's  parents  (cf.  Mahavagga,  I.  48).  Later  the  ordination 
of  any  candidate  under  twenty  years  of  age  was  forbidden  {Ibid.,  I.  49) 
for  it  did  not  tend  to  "convert  the  unconverted  or  to  augment  the  number" 
(or  the  prestige)   "of  the  converted." 


40  Gotama  Buddha 

a  monastery  of  eighty  cells  and  other  residences  with  terraces 
and  baths,  and  accepted  his  invitation  to  Savatthi.  There  was 
a  "fragrance  chamber"  for  Gotama  himself,  and  here  he  took 
up  his  abode.  In  accepting  this  or  a  similar  gift  Gotama  is 
said  to  have  uttered  the  following  thanksgiving  :14 

"  Here  cold  and  heat  no  sojourn  make, 
Here  ravenous  beasts  no  entry  find, 
Nor  stinging  fly,  nor  creeping  snake, 

Winter's  cold  rain  nor  summer's  scorching  wind. 

"  Here  is  a  place  to  concentrate 

The  thoughts  to  dwell  serene,  apart, 
Where  men  of  insight  meditate — 

Such  habitations  charm  the  Sage's  heart ! 

"These  are  choice  gifts:  therefore,  ye  wise, 
Having  your  own  best  weal  in  mind, 
Let  sacred  edifices  rise 

To  lodge  the  holy  Brethren  of  mankind. 

"  Raiment  and  fitting  drink  and  food 
And  ample  bedding  now  prepare! 
These  offer  to  the  Brotherhood; 

Let  them  in  turn  the  Righteous  Law  declare. 

"  So  shall  your  misery  remove, 

And  ye  be  purged  of  every  stain, 
Goodness  and  Truth  ye'll  learn  to  love, 

And  loving  shall  the  longed-for  Goal  attain !" 

Lay  patrons  such  as  Anathapindika  played  a  great  part  in 
the  spread  of  the  Order.  Another  was  the  Lady  Visakha,  who 
also  dwelt  at  Savatthi,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  formerly 
a  disciple  of  the  Naked  Sect  of  Jains,  but  who  now  gave  the 
great  monastery  of  Pubbarama  to  the  Sangha.  The  courtesan 
Ambapali15  was  also  a  generous  patroness.  Her  town  was 
Vesali ;  and  we  find  a  noble  emulation  between  the  chief  towns 
of  the  district  for  the  honor  of  lodging  the  monks. 

The  next  three  rainy  seasons  they  spent  in  the  Bamboo 


""The  Heart  of  Buddhism,"  p.  31.     (Translated  from  Cullavagga,  VI1.) 
15  "Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"   XVII.  p.   105.     This  courtesan  seems  to 
have  wielded  great  influence.     She  has  been  compared  to  Madame   Pompa- 
dour. 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    41 

Grove  at  Rajagaha,  and  we  are  told  that  in  the  fifth  season 
Gotama,  then  at  Vesali,  mediated  between  the  Sakyas  and  the 
Koliyas,  to  both  of  whose  chief  families  he  was  related,  in  a 
dispute  over  the  waters  of  the  river  Rohini,  and  spoke  to 
them  various  parables  proving  that  hatred  does  but  breed 
hatred,  and  that  feuds  perpetuate  themselves — an  elementary 
truth  not  yet  learned,  it  would  seem,  by  the  statesmen  of  the 
great  Christian  nations: 

"  Bad  folk  by  wrath  are  overthrown, 
As  when  an  avalanche  comes  down." 

Thus  war  was  averted.  So  greatly  was  Gotama  already  es- 
teemed in  the  council  chambers  of  kings;  so  convincing  was 
the  sweet  reasonableness  of  his  teaching ! 

About  this  time  it  seems  that  women  were  first  admitted  to 
the  Order.  On  the  death  of  Suddhodana,  his  wife,  the  lady 
Pajapati  came  with  the  wives  of  other  Sakya  chiefs  and  urged 
that  they  should  not  be  left  to  mourn  alone,  but  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Order.  This  request  seems  to  have  puzzled 
Gotama,  who  refused  it  three  times,  for  he  held  the  ideas  of 
women  which  were  usual  in  the  India  of  his  day.16  But  the 
ladies  were  importunate;  they  cut  off  their  hair,  put  on  the 
yellow  robe,  took  begging  bowls,  and  set  out  to  meet  him; 
and  so,  with  bleeding  feet,  and  travel-stained,  these  high-born 
women  came  to  Vesali.  The  first  to  meet  them  was  Ananda, 
whose  wife  was  probably  amongst  them,  and  he  besought  Go- 
tama to  admit  them  to  the  Sangha.  Again  he  refused,  till 
Ananda,  with  more  intelligence  than  usual,  asked  him  whether 
there  was  any  spiritual  defect  in  women  to  prevent  their  at- 
taining even  to  the  Goal,  Nibbana.  Gotama  was  too  honest 
to  fence  with  this  question,  but  he  gave  way  with  sorrow  and 
misgivings.  "Let  them  be  subject  and  subordinate  to  the 
brethren,"  he  commanded.  "Even  so  their  admission  means 
that  the  Good  Law  shall  not  endure  for  a  thousand  years,  but 
only  for  five  hundred.  For  as  when  mildew  falls  upon  a  field 
of  rice  that  field  is  doomed,  even  so  when  women  leave  the 
household  life  and  join  an  Order,  that  Order  will  not  long 

16  Women  are  likened  in  the  Itivuttaka  or  Logia  of  Gotama  to  croc- 
odiles and  demons  who  wait  for  the  swimmer  in  the  stream  of  life. 


42  Gotama  Buddha 

endure.  Yet  as  water  is  held  up  by  a  strong  dyke,  so  have  I 
established  a  barrier  of  regulations  which  are  not  to  be  trans- 
gressed."17 

In  taking  this  step,  Gotama  knew  he  was  taking  risks,  yet  it 
seemed  inevitable;  and  was  on  the  whole  well  justified  by 
events:  though  the  nuns  proved  fretful  at  times  and  though 
there  were  instances  of  immoral  conduct,  yet  some  of  them 
such  as  Dhammadinna,  Sukha,  and  Khema  did  nobly,  reach- 
ing equal  eminence  with  the  great  monks.  Thus  we  find  the 
lady  Khema  teaching  the  King  of  Kosala  and  winning  Go- 
tama's  approval  for  her  clear  and  accurate  handling  of  the 
vexed  question,  "Does  the  Blessed  One,  having  entered  Nib- 
bdna,  still  exist?"18 

Like  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  Gotama  had  now  two  Orders 
of  the  "religious"  men  and  women,  giving  their  whole  atten- 
tion to  the  Good  Law;  and  a  third  Order  of  lay  people,  in- 
cluding kings  and  warriors,  who,  whilst  carrying  on  their 
ordinary  duties,  kept  a  simplified  rule  of  life,  and  gave  of 
their  substance  and  energy  to  the  spreading  of  the  faith.  And 
in  return  it  seems  clear  that  the  Sangha  gave  them  sound  and 
practical  advice;  thus  at  Vesali  Gotama  seems  to  have  taught 
the  Vajjians  that  it  is  right  conduct  that  exalts  a  people;  so 
long  as  they  meet  in  conference  and  dwell  in  concord,  so  long 
as  they  respect  woman,  above  all  so  long  as  they  support 
and  protect  the  Sangha,  so  long  will  they  prosper,  and  go 
forward.  But  like  a  Hebrew  prophet  he  warns  them  of  im- 
pending disaster.19  They  were  not  ungrateful,  but  they  al- 
lowed dissension  to  spring  up  amongst  them,  and  soon  after- 
wards Ajatasattu  conquered  them  and  destroyed  their  city. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  went  smoothly  with  the  new 
teaching;  or  that  Gotama's  serene  course  had  no  dark  mo- 
ments. In  the  first  place  the  people  of  Magadha  seem  to 
have  complained  bitterly  that  he  was  making  orphans  and 
widows  of  them  all :  "He  causes  fathers  to  beget  no  children ; 


17  Cullavagga,  X.  16.  Is  the  prophecy  contained  in  these  words  due 
to  a  momentary  fit  of  depression  in  the  serene  and  optimistic  Gotama,  or 
is  it  the  work  of  a  later  hand,  writing  at  a  time  when  the  "good  law"  was 
already  in  decline? 

m  Oldenberg,   "Buddha,"   E.  T.,   pp.   278-280. 

19  Mahdpari-nibbana  Sutta. 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    43 

and  wives  to  become  widows;  and  families  to  become  ex- 
tinct."20 

Besides  such  criticism  and  opposition  from  without,  Go- 
tama was  clearly  subject  to  temptations  from  within,  which 
the  books  naively  attribute  to  Mara,  the  Prince  of  Darkness 
and  Death.  After  his  illumination,  as  we  have  seen,  came 
temptations  to  succumb  to  a  cynical  estimate  of  mankind  and 
to  keep  his  discovery  to  himself. 

Later  came  other  insidious  suggestions;  once,  for  example, 
while  he  was  meditating  alone  in  a  hut  on  the  Himalayas 
the  thought  came  to  him :  "How  much  good  the  truly  righteous 
king  might  do,  ruling  in  peace,  inflicting  no  pain,  seeing  that 
no  man  oppress  his  neighbor."  Hotfoot  upon  this  thought 
came  Mara,  who  reminded  him  of  his  miraculous  power  by 
which  he  might  turn  all  the  Himalayas  into  gold,  but  to  him 
Gotama,  now  completely  master  of  himself,  replied:  "And 
pray  what  profit  would  it  be  to  the  sage  to  possess  a  mountain 
of  gold?"21  Yet  these  two  temptations,  to  become  a  great 
ruler,  and  to  use  miracle  in  setting  up  a  "theocracy  without  a 
God,"  were  no  doubt  very  real ;  they  resemble  the  temptations 
which  assailed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  at  the  beginning  of  his  pub- 
lic ministry,  and  it  must  have  needed  great  heroism  in  each 
case  to  put  them  away.  May  we  not  find  in  the  temptation 
of  Gotama  a  recurrence  of  early  ambitions  to  become  a  Chak- 
kavatti,  ambitions  now  refined  and  spiritualized?  And  other 
temptations,  too,  he  must  have  known — above  all,  the  yearn- 
ing to  leave  a  contrary  and  critical  world  to  roll  on  to  perdi- 
tion! 

There  were  disputes  again,  even  within  the  Sangha,  and 
outside  it  there  were  many  rival  teachers,  who  did  not  look 
favorably  upon  the  growing  enthusiasm  for  the  new  religion, 
and  some  of  whom  even  resorted  to  gross  attacks  upon  Go- 
tama's  moral  character.22  Not  unnaturally,  Sanjaya,  the 
former  teacher  of  Sariputta  and  Moggallana,  resented  their 
defection.     Another  rival  sect  whom  Gotama  strongly  con- 


20  Mahavagga,  I.  24   ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.    150). 

21  Samyutta  Nikaya,  I. 

22  For  the  quaint  story  of  the  girl  Cinca  see  "The  Heart  of  Buddhism,' 
pp.    155,   156. 


44  Gotama  Buddha 

demned  were  the  Ajivikas,  who  taught  a  determinism  which 
seems  to  have  led  directly  to  immoral  conduct;  their  chief, 
Makkhali  Gosala,  he  described  as  a  "bad  man,"  who  would 
catch  his  disciples  like  fish  in  order  to  destroy  them.23  An- 
other sect  was  that  of  Mahavira  Vardhamana,  known  as  the 
Jains,  a  sect  which  had  many  points  of  resemblance  with  his 
own  teaching,  but  whose  members  were  much  more  ascetic 
and  believed  in  the  reality  of  the  soul  and  in  its  personal  iden- 
tity after  death.  Gotama's  attitude  to  these  rival  sects  is 
summed  up  in  the  Majjhima  Nikaya,  where  he  divides  ascet- 
ics outside  his  own  following  into  eight  classes,  four  of  which 
are  "incontinent,"  amongst  these  being  the  Ajivikas,  whilst 
four  are  "unsatisfying,"  amongst  these  being  the  Jains.24  And 
though  Gotama  bade  his  followers  show  no  anger  if  these 
rival  teachers  attacked  them,  yet  he  made  it  very  clear  that 
he  strongly  disapproved  of  some  and  despised  others.  We 
are  told  that  these  rival  teachers,  finding  no  support  in 
Magadha,  whose  king,  Bimbisara,  befriended  the  Buddhist 
Sangha  (seeing  in  its  teaching  of  unity  a  splendid  aid  to 
statecraft),  went  off  to  Kosala,  hoping  to  win  the  patronage 
of  its  king,  the  Pasenadi  Agnidatta,25  but  he  too  eventually 
joined  Gotama. 

This 'Pasenadi  has  a  section  of  the  Samyutta  Nikaya  de- 
voted to  him,  and  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  figures  of 
Gotama's  day. 

They  seem  to  have  met  first  quite  early  in  Gotama's  ministry 
on  the  occasion  of  a  great  animal  sacrifice,  when  the  com- 
passion of  the  Teacher  was  deeply  stirred,  and  he  spoke  out 
as  the  prophet  of  a  new  righteousness  and  the  priest  of  a 
new  and  more  seemly  sacrifice.     And  all  his  days  he  was  a 


28  In  the  Anguttara  Nikaya  Gotama  calls  the  doctrine  of  Makkhali  the 
"worst  of  doctrines":  it  is  like  the  hair  shirt  its  author  wore — rough  to 
the  touch,  unpleasant  to  the  smell!  An  account  of  his  teaching  is  given 
in  "Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,"  I.   71. 

24  In  the  Brahmajala  Sutta  of  Dlgha  Nikaya  Gotama  enumerates  sixty- 
two  current  philosophies  and  says  that  all  who  attempt  in  those  ways  to 
reconstruct  the  past  or  to  decide  the  future  are  "like  fish  caught  in  a  net. 
However  much  they  plunge  and  flounder,  they  are  the  more  entangled." 
"Dialogues,"   I.   319. 

25  Pasenadi  seems  to  have  been  a  title,  not  a  name. 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    45 

champion  of  "our  little  brothers"  whom  men  so  thoughtlessly 
and  wantonly  torture  and  slay. 

"Now  at  this  time  a  great  sacrifice  was  arranged  to  be  held 
for  the  King,  the  Kosalan  Pasenadi.  Five  hundred  bulls,  five 
hundred  bullocks,  and  as  many  heifers,  goats,  and  rams  were 
led  to  the  pillar  to  be  sacrificed,  and  then  the  slaves  and  meni- 
als and  craftsmen,  hectored  about  by  blows  and  by  fear,  made 
the  preparations  with  tearful  faces  weeping. 

"Now  a  number  of  almsmen  having  risen  early  and 
dressed  and  taken  bowl  and  robe,  entered  Savatthi  for  alms. 
.  .  .  And  after  their  return  they  sought  the  presence  of  the 
Exalted  One  and  told  him  of  the  preparations  for  the  sacri- 
fice. 

"Then  the  Exalted  One,  understanding  the  matter,  uttered 
in  that  hour  these  verses: 

"  The  sacrifices  called  "the  Horse,"  the  Man, 
The  Peg-thrown  Site,  the  Drink  of  Victory, 
The  Bolts  Withdrawn,  and  all  the  mighty  fuss : — 
These  are  not  rites  that  bring  a  rich  result. 
Where  divers  goats  and  sheep  and  kine  are  slain, 
Never  to  such  a  rite  as  that  repair 
The  noble  seers  who  walk  the  perfect  way. 
But  rites  where  is  no  bustle  nor  no  fuss, 
Are  offerings  meet,  bequests  perpetual, 
Where  never  goats  and  sheep  and  kine  are  slain. 
To  such  a  sacrifice  as  this  repair 
The  noble  seers  who  walk  the  perfect  way. 
These  are  the  rites  entailing  great  results. 
These  to  the  celebrant  are  blest,  not  cursed. 
Th'  oblation  runneth  o'er ;  the  gods  are  pleased.'  "2Q 

Like  Samuel  he  insisted  that  the  offering  of  righteousness 
(dhamma  puja)  is  better  than  the  offering  of  material  sacri- 
fice (amisa  puja). 

At  another  time  Gotama  was  distressed  at  the  story  of  cap- 
tives taken  in  one  of  Agnidatta's  wars,  and  at  the  bonds  which 


26  Samyutta  Nikaya  in  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids's  "The  Book  of  the  Kindred 
Sayings,"  pp.  102,  103.  Gotama  does  not  seem  to  have  condemned  sacrifice 
in  itself;  but  "better  even  than  a  bloodless  sacrifice  is  liberality  .  .  .  and 
the  highest  sacrifice  of  all  is  to  enter  Nibbana,  saying  'I  return  no  more 
to  earth.'  "      (Kutadanta  Sutta,  Dlgha  Nikaya,   143.) 


46 


Gotama  Buddha 


still  held  the  King  himself  captive :  the  love  of  self  and  of  the 
world. 

The  story  of  the  King's  conversion  is  worth  quoting  in 
full. 

"Thus  have  I  heard:  'The  Exalted  One  was  once  staying 
near  Savatthi,  at  the  Jeta  Grove  in  Anathapindika's  Park. 
Now  the  King,  the  Kosalan  Pasenadi,  came  into  the  presence 
of  the  Exalted  One,  and  after  exchanging  greetings  with  him 
and  compliments  of  friendship  and  courtesy,  sat  down  at  one 
side.    So  seated  he  said  to  the  Exalted  One: 

"  'Does  Master  Gotama  also  make  no  claim  to  be  perfectly 
and  supremely  enlightened?'  'If  there  be  anyone,  sire,  to 
whom  such  enlightenment  might  rightly  be  attributed,  it  is 
I.     I  verily,  sire,  am  perfectly  and  supremely  enlightened.' 

"  'But  Master  Gotama,  there  are  recluses  and  Brahmins 
who  also,  like  yourself,  have  each  their  order  of  disciples, 
their  attendant  followers,  who  are  teachers  of  disciples, 
well-known  and  reputed  theorizers,  highly  esteemed  by  the 
people — I  mean  Purana-Kassapa,  Makkhali  of  the  Cowstall, 
the  Nigantha  Nata's  son,27  Safijaya  Belatthi's  son,  Kacca- 
yana  of  the  Pakudhas,  Ajita  of  the  Hairblanket.  Now  they, 
when  I  have  asked  this  same  question  of  them,  have  not  laid 
claim  to  perfect  and  supreme  enlightenment.  How  can  this 
be?  For  (as  compared  with  them)  master  Gotama  is  young 
in  years,  and  is  a  novice  in  the  life  of  religion.' 

"  'There  are  four  young  creatures,  who  are  not  to  be  dis- 
regarded or  despised,  because  they  are  youthful.  What  are 
the  four?  A  noble  prince,  a  snake,  a  fire,  an  almsman 
(bhikkhu) .  Yea,  sire,  these  four  young  creatures  are  not  to 
be  disregarded  or  despised  because  they  are  youthful. 


<(  t 


Hence  with  these  four — the  serpent  and  the  fire, 
The  prince  of  high  estate,  the  saintly  friar — 
Let  the  wise  man,  his  own  good-will  in  sight, 
Conduct  himself  as  seemly  is  and  right.' 

"When  these  things  had  been  said,  King  Pasenadi,  the 
Kosalan,  spoke  thus  to  the  Exalted  One: 

"  'Most  excellent,  Lord,  most  excellent !  Just  as  if  a  man 
were  to  set  up  that  which  has  been  thrown  down,  or  were 


27  Nataputta  was  the  founder  of  the  Jain  Sect,  whose  members  call  him 
both  Jlna   (conqueror)   and  Buddha. 


Gotama  at  the  Height  of  His  Power    47 

to  reveal  that  which  is  hidden  away,  or  were  to  point  out  the 
right  road  to  him  who  has  gone  astray,  or  were  to  bring  a 
lamp  into  the  darkness  so  that  those  who  have  eyes  could  see 
external  forms — even  so,  lord,  has  the  truth  been  made  known 
to  me  in  many  a  figure  by  the  Exalted  One.  I,  even  I,  lord, 
betake  myself  to  the  Exalted  One  as  my  refuge,  to  the  Norm 
and  to  the  Order.  May  the  Exalted  One  accept  me  as  a  fol- 
lower, as  one  who  from  this  day  forth  as  long  as  life  endures 
has  taken  his  refuge  therein.'  "28 

So  were  many  lesser  folk  converted :  not  so  much  by  argu- 
ment as  by  good-humored  analogy  or  the  argumentum  ad 
hominem.  "You  are  yourself  young,  O  King,"  says  Gotama 
in  effect  to  the  Pasenadi,  "why  despise  me  for  my  youth?" 
And  not  a  word  more  was  needed — no  refutation  of  the  other 
teachers,  no  vindication  of  his  own  Dhamma,  but  only  a 
serene,  authoritative  claim,  politely  wrapped  up  in  a  com- 
pliment! This  is  the  way  to  deal  with  kings.  But  with 
philosophers  and  rival  teachers  he  took  another  line. 

King  Agnidatta  became  the  lifelong  friend  and  supporter 
of  the  Sangha  and,  like  the  great  Asoka  after  him,  seems  to 
have  been  chastened  by  contact  with  them  till  he  gave  up 
animal  sacrifices,  and  even  spared  his  enemy  Ajatasattu,  after 
defeating  him  in  battle.  "Although,"  he  reflected,  "this  king 
injures  me  who  have  done  him  no  wrong,  yet  he  is  my  nephew. 
What  if  I  take  away  his  army  and  leave  him  his  life?"  And 
we  find  the  Buddhist  chronicler  avowing  "That  the  King  of 
Kosala,  Pasenadi,  is  a  friend  and  an  intimate,  yea,  an  active 
promoter  of  all  that  is  good."  Whilst  of  Ajatasattu  we  read 
that  "He  is  the  friend  and  intimate  of  all  evil,  and  an  active 
associate." 

But  we  are  anticipating.  The  sinister  plots  of  Ajatasattu 
and  Devadatta  belong  to  the  story  of  Gotama's  old  age,  and 
must  be  told  in  a  later  chapter. 

During  the  greater  part  of  his  lifetime  it  was  Bimbisara 
who  ruled  in  Magadha;  his  Queen  Khema  was  converted  in 
spite  of  herself  in  the  sixth  year  of  Gotama's  ministry;  and 
his  dates  are  known  with  a  fair  measure  of  certainty — from 


28  Samyutta  Nikaya  in  Mrs.   Rhys   Davids's   "The   Book   of  the  Kindred 
Sayings,"  p.  95. 


48  Gotama  Buddha 

543  to  491  B.  C.  Their  son  Ajatasattu  comes  on  the  scene 
when  Gotama  is  about  seventy  years  old. 

The  chronology  of  Gotama's  ministry  up  to  the  age  of 
fifty  has  been  carefully,  if  not  very  convincingly,  worked  out 
in  some  of  the  biographies,  such  as  that  translated  by  Bishop 
Bigandet  under  the  title  "The  Life  or  Legend  of  Gaudama," 
and  for  want  of  more  certain  knowledge  the  general  sequence 
of  events  may  be  accepted  as  there  arranged.  But  it  is 
monkish  chronology  for  the  most  part,  concerned  with  such 
things  as  when  the  Sangha  went  into  retreat,  and  even  this 
skeleton  fails  us  for  the  period  of  his  life  between  the  ages  of 
fifty  and  seventy,  which  are,  as  the  Bishop  says,  "an  almost 
complete  blank." 

It  seems  as  if  a  late  editor  had  collected  all  the  available 
material  and  used  it  up  too  quickly!  It  is  certain  that  the 
whole  story  has  been  edited  and  re-edited  by  monks,  until  in 
Japan  we  have  a  complete  chronology  worked  out;  each  year 
being  remembered  by  some  discourse,  and  each  era  concerned 
with  a  very  definite  development  of  doctrine,  until  at  the  end 
of  his  life  Gotama  reveals  a  fully  worked  out  Matayana  gos- 
pel in  the  famous  Saddharma-pundarika!  More  scientific 
biography  must  select  from  the  available  matter  what  is  best 
calculated  to  give  a  true  impression  of  its  hero,  and  what  is 
least  improbable  and  fabulous.  But  until  the  whole  of  the 
Buddhist  works  are  accessible  to  us  and  until  much  more  tex- 
tual criticism  has  been  done,  biography  in  the  strictest  sense  is 
not  possible. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE  DAILY  LIFE  OF  GOTAMA 
AND  HIS  DISCIPLES 


In  bliss  we  dwell  amongst  men  of  hatred,  hating  none. — 
Dhammapada  197. 

Smiled  on  by  kings  and  growing  rapidly  in  numbers  and 
in  power,  the  Sangha  had  to  be  organized.  This  was  a  grad- 
ual process,  for  Gotama  seems  to  have  realized  the  value  of  a 
discipline  which  sprang  out  of  actual  experience.  In  the 
very  early  days  when  there  were  only  six  Arahats,  they  seem 
to  have  wandered  from  place  to  place  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year ;  but  this  led  to  criticism,  for  in  the  wet  weather  the  land 
teems  with  insect  life,  and  the  young  crops  are  also  easily 
damaged !  So  the  people  complained,  says  the  Mahdvagga,1 
and  reminded  them  that  birds  go  to  their  nests  and  even 
"heretics"  have  a  "close  season."  Gotama  accordingly,  fol- 
lowing a  practice  already  recognized  in  other  "Orders,"  in- 
stituted the  "Rndfli-iig*  Vneeg  pt-  "T  ^j- "  which  has  ever  since 
been  observed. 

Towards  the  end  of  May  or  the  beginning  of  June  (the 
month  of  Ashadha),  the  Indian  sky  is  heavy  with  black  clouds, 
and  man's  eyes  turn  longingly  towards  them  as  they  pile  up 
upon  the  horizon,  now  lit  by  flashes  of  lightning,  now  hang- 
ing dark  and  big  with  rain.2  Then  at  last  they  break,  and  a 
great  sigh  of  thanksgiving  seems  to  go  up  from  the  weary 
land. 


1Mahavagga,  III  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.  298,  299). 

2  The  breaking  of  the  rains  varies — in  the  northwest  it  is  as  late  as  the 
end  of  June;  so  the  Mahavagga  gives  alternate  dates,  either  the  day  after 
the  full  moon  of  Ashadha,   or  a  month  later,  for   the  beginning   of    Vassa. 


50  Gotama  Buddha 

During  this  season  we  are  to  imagine  Gotama  and  his  fol- 
lowers leading  the  "strenuous  life  of  meditation"  in  quiet 
places  like  the  Vulture  Peak  or  the  bamboo  grove  at  Rajagaha, 
or  in  the  garden  given  to  them  by  Anathapindika  at  Savatthi. 
In  the  "Songs  of  the  Buddhist  Brethren"  we  read  also  of 
monks  and  nuns  in  solitary  retreat,  and  their  love  of  nature 
is  revealed  in  some  of  these,  though  it  is  always  as  a  back- 
ground for  religious  meditation  that  they  think  of  her  beauties. 

"  Those  upland  glades  delightful  to  the  soul, 
Where  the  kareri  spreads  its  wildering  wreaths, 
Where  sound  the  trumpet-calls  of  elephants ; 
Those  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights. 
Those  rocky  heights  with  hue  of  dark  blue  clouds, 
Where  lies  embosomed  many  a  shining  tarn 
Of  crystal-clear,  cool  waters,  and  whose  slopes 
The  'herds  of  Indra'  cover  and  bedeck: 
Those  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights. 
Like  serried  battlements  of  blue-black  cloud, 
Like  pinnacles  on  stately  castle  built, 
Re-echoing  to  the  cries  of  jungle  folk: 
Those  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights. 
Fair  uplands,  rain-refreshed  and  resonant 
With  crested  creatures'  cries  antiphonal, 
Lone  heights  where  silent  Rishis  oft  resort: 
Those  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights.  .  .  . 
Free  from  the  crowds  of  citizens  below, 
But  thronged  with  flocks  of  many  winged  things, 
The  home  of  herding  creatures  of  the  wild; 
Such  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights. 
Crags  where  clear  waters  lie,  a  rocky  world, 
Haunted  by  black-faced  apes  and  timid  deer, 
Where  'neath  bright  blossoms  run  the  silver  streams : 
Such  are  the  braes  wherein  my  soul  delights. 
For  that  which  brings  me  exquisite  delight 
Is  not  the  strains  of  string  and  pipe  and  drum, 
But  when,  with  intellect  well-poised,  intent, 
I  gain  the  perfect  vision  of  the  Norm."3 

But  the  Sangha  as  a  whole  led  the  corporate  life;  even 
if  they  separated  into  small  groups  they  came  together  at 


8  Theragatha,  1062-1071,  Mrs.   Rhys  Davids's  translation. 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     51 

stated  intervals;  and  Retreat  would  end  with  mutual  con- 
fession and  exhortation,  known  as  Pavarana. 

Then,  when  the  wet  season  was  over  and  all  nature  re- 
joiced, master  and  disciples  would  mingle  once  more  with 
the  busy  throng  of  men.  They  day  was  most  carefully 
planned.4  Rising  at  dawn  Gotama  would  go  out  either  alone 
or  with  his  followers  to  village  or  town,  collecting  alms.  He 
would  then  break  his  fast,  and  would  discourse  to  the  monks, 
and  give  them  exercises  in  meditation  suited  to  their  attain- 
ments. They  would  then  leave  him,  going  off  each  to  his 
favorite  spot  to  meditate,  whilst  Gotama  would  lie  down  on 
his  right  side  "in  the  lion  posture"  in  a  quiet  chamber,  or 
better  still  in  the  cool  shade  of  the  forest,  and  rest — not 
sleeping,  yet  not  practicing  systematic  meditation.  Then  the 
people  would  come  to  him  for  preaching  or  advice.  "When 
he  had  taken  pity  on  them"  he  would  bathe  and  spend  a 
period  in  meditation  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  And  in  the 
first  watch  of  the  night  he  would  answer  the  questions  of  the 
disciples,  or  preach  to  them.  After  that  we  must  suppose 
he  slept !  It  is  characteristic  of  the  monkish  records  that  they 
account  for  every  one  of  the  twenty-four  hours  without  al- 
lowing time  for  this.  And  after  his  death  it  was  one  of  the 
tenets  of  the  Mahasanghika  School  that  he  had  no  need  of 
sleep. 

That  the  Sangha  grew  so  rapidly  was  certainly  not  due  to 
the  ease  of  the  life  Gotama  offered  men.  We  get  many 
glimpses  of  their  austerity  as  they  slept  on  the  bare  earth 
with  no  covering  but  the  yellow  robe;  "Cold,  master,  is  the 
winter  night;  the  time  of  frost  is  coming;  rough  is  the 
ground  with  the  treading  of  the  hoofs  of  cattle;  thin  is  the 
couch  of  leaves,  and  light  is  the  yellow  robe;  the  winter 
wind  blows  keen";5   so  a  dweller  in  Alavi   as  he  saw  the 


4  Cf.  the  account  in  H.  C.  Warren's  "Buddhism  in  Translations" 
from  Buddhaghosa's  Commentary  on  Digha  Nik&ya. 

A  more  poetical  but  later  account  is  in  Sumangala  Vilasini,  translated  by 
Dr.    Rhys  Davids  in  his  "American   Lectures." 

The  student  who  compares  the  two  accounts  will  note  the  growth  of  the 
miraculous  element. 

5  Anguttara:  Sukhasayama  Sutta,  III.  4,  5,  where  Gotama  claims  that 
rough  as  his  bed  might  be  he  slept  calm  and  peaceful,  unlike  kings  and 
worldlings. 


52  Gotama  Buddha 

teacher  seated  in  the  midst  of  the  Sinsapa  Forest  absorbed  in 
meditation. 

Often,  however,  they  would  stop  to  enjoy  the  hospitality 
of  kings,  and  gradually  they  acquired  many  pleasant  gardens 
and  monasteries,  such  as  the  bamboo  grove  at  Veluvana  given 
by  Bimbisara: 

"Not  too  far  from  nor  yet  too  near  the  town,  well  pro- 
vided with  entrances  and  exits;  easily  accessible  to  all  peo- 
ple who  inquire  after  it,  with  not  too  much  of  the  bustle  of 
life  by  day,  quiet  by  night,  far  from  the  crowds  of  men,  a 
place  of  retirement,  a  place  for  solitary  meditation  ...  in 
these  gardens  were  the  residences  of  the  Brethren,  houses, 
halls,  cloisters,  storerooms,  surrounded  by  lotus  pools,  fra- 
grant mango  trees  and  slender  fan  palms  that  lifted  their 
foliage  high  over  all  lands,  and  by  the  deep  green  foliage  of 
the  nyagrodha  tree,  whose  roots  dropping  from  the  air  to 
earth  become  new  stems,  with  their  cool  shady  arcades  and 
leafy  walks,  seemed  to  invite  to  peaceful  meditation."6 

Hither  would  come  to  him  kings  and  their  retinues,  and 
other  lay  people,  or  Brahmins  and  religious  teachers  who  had 
heard  of  his  fame,  and  on  moonlight  nights  when  the  Indian 
air  is  fragrant  with  the  blossoms  of  flowering  trees  and 
solemn  with  the  march  of  the  stars,  they  would  sit  enthralled 
by  his  discourse  on  the  eternal  verities.  But  if  any  proved 
obstinate  Gotama  would  harry  him  remorselessly  till  he 
capitulated,  cross-examining  him  like  Socrates  until,  as  we 
are  told,  in  several  passages,  the  sweat  poured  from  the  luck- 
less man;  for  Gotama  could  be  surgeon  as  well  as  physician. 
And  often  the  patient  would  kiss  the  hand  that  wielded  the 
knife ! 

At  other  times  the  Sangha  might  be  seen  pacing  with  down- 
cast eyes  amongst  the  villages  of  Magadha  and  Kosala,  giving 
in  return  for  their  daily  food  the  teaching  of  the  Law,  which 
we  are  reminded  again  and  again  is  "the  greatest  of  gifts." 
On  the  advice  of  Bimbisara,  Gotama  appointed  the  eighth,  the 
fourteenth,  or  the  fifteenth  and  the  sixteenth  days  of  each 


"Oldenberg,    "Buddha,"   E.   T.,  pp.    143,    145. 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     53 

month  as  Uposatha  days  for  the  assembling  of  the  people  to 
listen  to  the  Dhamma.7 

It  was  a  strange  democracy  which  the  great  teacher 
gathered  round  him,  and  which  he  welded  together  by  a  com- 
mon gratitude  and  a  common  purpose.  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids8 
has  shown  from  the  commentary  upon  the  Theragdtha,  that 
of  259  poets  to  whom  these  psalms  are  attributed,  113  were 
Brahmins,  60  Kshatriyas,  7  landowners  or  cultivators,  53  bur- 
gesses or  councillors,  commoners,  merchants,  or  "rich  men's 
sons,"  9  craftsmen,  elephant  trainers,  etc.,  10  pariahs,  labor- 
ers, slaves,  1  actor,  3  sons  of  lay  adherents,  3  illegitimate  sons 
of  kings  or  sons  of  monks.    She  writes : 

"That  the  large  proportion  of  these  men  of  letters  belong  to 
the  class  which  were  the  custodians  of  religious  lore  and 
sacred  hymns,  was  inevitable.  The  really  interesting  feature 
is  that  the  residuum,  consisting  of  noblemen  trained  in  war, 
governance,  and  sports,  or  merchants,  craftsmen,  and  the  like, 
occupied  with  business,  commerce,  and  constructive  work,  and 
of  the  illiterate  poor,  should  be  as  numerous  as  it  is.  Or 
indeed,  that  there  should  have  been  any  of  the  last-named  at 
all  as  composers  of  verses  deserving  inclusion  in  the  Canon. 
In  fact,  it  would  not  be  entirely  unreasonable  to  conclude 
that  if  four  per  cent  of  the  canonical  poets  were  drawn  from 
the  poor  and  despised  of  the  earth,  from  whom  no  such 
products  as  verses  could  be  expected,  then  the  proportion  of 
bhikkhus,  in  general,  coming  from  that  class  may  have  been 
considerable." 

However  this  may  be,  the  fact  stands  out  that  there  was 
real  democracy  within  the  Sangha.9     An  assassin,  a  barber, 
an  acrobat,  and  a  scavenger  were  also  numbered  amongst 
them,  and  one  of  the  great  services  which  Gotama  BuddhaX 
did  to  his  native  land  was  to  show  that  nobility  is  not  a  \ 
matter  of  birth,  but  of  conduct;  a  lesson  which  she  has  not/ 
yet  assimilated: 


7  Mahavagga,  II.    1,  3    ("Sacred   Books  of  the  East,"  XIII). 

8  "Psalms  of  the   Brethren,"  pp.  XXVIII-XXIX. 

9  "Book    of    the    Kindred    Sayings,"    I.    Mrs.    Rhys    Davids,    p.    207,    cf. 
p.  210. 


54  Gotama  Buddha 

"  Nay,  though  he  jabber  multitudes  of  runes, 
Thus  is  no  Brahmin  made  regenerate, 
Garbage-defiled,  within,  propped  by  deceits. 
But  be  he  noble,  Brahmin,  commoner, 
Or  laboring  man,  or  of  pariah  class, 
Who  stirs  up  effort,  puts  forth  all  his  strength, 
Advances  with  an  ever  vigorous  stride, 
He  may  attain  the  Purity  Supreme. 
Brahmin,  know  this !" 

Nor  was  it  only  the  Brahmin  whom  the  great  teacher  bade 
live  up  to  his  name.  The  raj  puts  from  whom  he  himself 
had  sprung,  and  kings,  are  reminded  that  he  is  the  true  warrior 
who  controls  himself  and  that  self-mastery  is  true  greatness; 
even  the  gods  bow  before  the  holy  man !  Very  touching  is 
the  story  of  the  scavenger  Sunita,  and  of  Gotama's  dealings 
with  him;  let  him  speak  to  us  across  a  gulf  of  twenty-five  cen- 
turies, and  tell  us  of  Gotama's  humanity  and  tenderness: 

"  Humble  the  clan  wherein  I  took  my  birth, 
And  poor  was  I,  and  scanty  was  my  lot; 
Mean  task  was  mine,  a  scavenger  of  flowers. 
One  for  whom  no  man  cared,  despised,  abused, 
My  mind  I  humbled  and  I  bent  the  head 
In  deference  to  a  goodly  tale  of  folk. 
And  then  I  saw  the  All -Enlightened  come, 
Begirt  and  followed  by  his  bhikkhu-train, 
Great  Champion  ent'ring  Magadha's  chief  town. 
I  laid  aside  my  baskets  and  my  yoke, 
And  came  where  I  might  due  obeisance  make, 
And  of  his  loving-kindness  just  for  me, 
The  Chief  of  men  halted  upon  his  way. 
Low  at  his  feet  I  bent,  then  standing  by, 
I  begged  the  Master's  leave  to  join  the  Rule 
And  follow  him,  of  every  creature  Chief. 
Then  he  whose  tender  mercy  watcheth  all 
The  world,  the  Master  pitiful  and  kind, 
Gave  me  my  answer :  'Come,  Bhikkhu !'  he  said. 
Thereby  to  me  was  ordination  given. 

"Lo!     I  alone  in  forest  depths  abode, 
With  zeal  unfaltering  wrought  the  Master's  word, 
Even  the  counsels  of  the  Conqueror. 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     55 

While  passed  the  first  watch  of  the  night  there  rose 

Long  memories  of  the  bygone  line  of  lives. 

While  passed  the  middle  watch,  the  heav'nly  eye, 

Purview  celestial,  was  clarified. 

While  passed  the  last  watch  of  the  night,  I  burst 

Asunder  all  the  gloom  of  ignorance. 

Then  as  the  night  wore  down  at  dawn 

And  rose  the  sun,  came  Indra  and  Brahma, 

Yielding  me  homage  with  their  clasped  hands: 

'Hail  unto  thee,  thou  nobly  born  of  men ! 

Hail  unto  thee,  thou  highest  among  men  ! 

Perished  for  thee  are  all  th'  intoxicants; 

And  thou  art  worthy,  noble  sir,  of  gifts/ 

The  Master,  seeing  me  by  troop  of  gods 

Begirt  and  followed,  thereupon  a  smile 

Revealing,  by  this  utterance  made  response : 

'By  discipline  of  holy  life,  restraint 

And  mastery  of  self:  hereby  a  man 

Is  holy;  this  is  holiness  supreme  V  "10 

It  is  a  touching  testimony  at  once  to  the  humanity  of  Gotama 
and  to  the  essential  democracy  of  the  Sangha. 

To  this  strange  assembly  of  men  and  women  gathered  to- 
gether under  the  yellow  robe,  Gotama  gave  fully  and  without 
reserve  his  philosophical  and  moral  teachings,  and  it  was 
to  them  he  entrusted  the  handing  on  of  the  torch  when  he 
passed  away.  In  the  early  days  Gotama  himself  admitted 
each  new  member  to  the  Sangha  with  the  simple  words  Ehi 
Bhikkhu,  "Come,  monk,"  but  as  numbers  grew  and  there  were 
converts  in  many  places  he  delegated  this  office  to  the  order, 
instituting  a  form  of  ordination  which  has  been  maintained 
in  an  elaborated  form  ever  since. 

After  examination  to  make  sure  that  he  is  neither  a  leper 
nor  maimed,  and  that  he  is  not  a  confirmed  criminal  or  a  slave, 
the  candidate  is  shaved  and  clothed  in  the  yellow  robe;  he 
salutes  the  Bhikkhus  and  takes  the  "Three-Fold  Refuge"  in  the 
Buddha,  the  Dhamma,  and  the  Sangha.  This  he  does  three 
times,  and  is  then  a  duly  ordained  monk.11    So  was  developed 


10  "Psalms  of  the  Brethren"  (Therag&tto,  CCXLII). 

11  Mahavagga,  L.   12.     Dr.   Oldenberg  argues  with  much  reason  that  this 
"Tisarana"    or    Three-Fold    Refuge    was    instituted    after    Gotama's    death: 


56  Gotama  Buddha 

that  great  Company  of  the  Yellow  Robe,  which  has  rendered 
such  eminent  service  to  India  and  the  East — the  oldest,  as  it  is 
the  most  picturesque,  of  all  religious  orders;  which,  whilst  it 
has  often  degenerated,  shows  such  strange  powers  of  recovery. 
The  student  who  would  in  imagination  join  himself  to  that 
glad  yet  solemn  company  will  find  himself  not  only  moving 
amongst  men  and  women  who  have  forsaken  all  for  the  re- 
ligious life;  but  may  mingle  in  their  midst  with  the  lay  folk 
of  the  Indian  town  and  countryside  of  those  far-off  days  and 
lead  a  life  strangely  blent  of  reality  and  tropical  imagina- 
tion. 

"He  will  find  himself  for  the  most  part  in  a  woodland  of 
faerie,  opening  out  here  on  a  settlement  of  religious  brethren, 
there  on  scenes  of  life  in  rural  communities  such  as  might 
well  be  met  in  the  India  of  today,  or  indeed  in  other  countries. 
.  .  .  The  prince  of  darkness — of  life-lust  and  of  recurring 
death — will  startle  him  in  odd  and  fearsome  shapes  and  ways. 
Grave  and  noble  sisters  will  show  him  a  serene  peace,  and  a 
grasp  of  truth  won  at  the  cost  of  much  that  life  holds  dear. 
The  incorrigible  if  amiable  despot,  and  the  priest,  often  no  less 
incorrigible,  will  give  themselves  away  as  they  talk  before 
him.  Mysterious  aboriginal  creatures,  in  process  of  being 
merged  into  the  stock  of  folk-myth,  will  come  from  the  aban- 
doned shrines  of  dead  deities  to  listen  or  to  menace.  And  the 
gods  of  today  will  contend  before  him  with  the  gods  of  yester- 
day, become  the  Titans  of  today. 

"And  ever,  as  he  wanders  on,  there  will  move  before  him, 
luminous  and  serene,  the  central  figure  of  the  great-hearted 
Gotama,  bringing  him  to  the  wood's  end  braced  and  en- 
lightened by  the  beneficent  tension  of  listening  to  many  wise 
sayings.  In  these  he  will  hear  the  lesser  gods  instructed  and 
the  higher  gods  brought  low,  the  devil  swept  aside  and  the 
demons  fearlessly  confronted ;  the  king  given  simple,  practical, 
secular  advice,  not  too  high  or  unworldly  for  his  limited  in- 
telligence, and  the  priest's  rites  and  dogmas  tested  by  a  new 
and  higher  norm;  the  disciples'  talents  evoked  and  appre- 
ciated, and  the  earnest  lay  inquirer  made  welcome."12 


"Could  anyone  call  the  disciples  his  refuge  so  long  as  the  Master  was  with 
them?"  ("Buddha,"  E.  T.,  p.  338.)  Yet  Gotama  may  have  been  preparing 
them  to  do  without  his  presence. 

12  "Book  of  the  Kindred  Sayings,"  I.  vi,  vii. 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     57 

As  he  studies  the  discourses  and  dialogues  in  more  detail, 
he  will  find  that  he  cannot  wholly  agree  with  Dr.  Dahlke 
that  they  are  "of  a  sublime  sameness,"  nor  with  Dr.  Olden- 
berg  that  they  show  "  a  motionless  and  rigid  uniformity  on 
which  no  lights  and  shadows  fall."13  It  is  true  that  in  being 
edited  they  have  all  been  passed  through  the  same  mould, 
but  nevertheless  there  does  shine  out  from  them  the  fact  that 
the  teacher  adapted  his  teaching  to  his  pupil,  and  the  com- 
mentator and  editor  have  not  been  able  wholly  to  stereotype 
his  genius.  Thus,  for  example,  when  King  Agnidatta  Pase- 
nadi  asks  him  if  the  law  of  decay  and  death  is  universal 
he  replies,  "Look  at  your  royal  chariot;  even  it  is  showing 
signs  of  wear  and  tear,"14  and  there  are  many  similar  in- 
stances of  adaptation  in  Gotama's  method.  "While  his  dis- 
cussions with  the  learned,"  says  an  Indian  disciple,  "were 
more  or  less  formal  and  often  coldly  logical,  in  his  con- 
versation with  ordinary  men  the  Master  generally  resorted 
to  similes  and  parables,  fables  and  folklore,  historical  anec- 
dotes and  episodes,  proverbs  and  popular  sayings."  His  sim- 
iles and  parables  are  drawn  for  the  most  part  from  the  jungle 
— the  spoor  of  elephants,  the  ways  of  woodmen,  the  life  of 
trees — or  from  the  village:  herdsman,  farmer,  fletcher,  char- 
ioteer, all  provide  him  with  images,  whilst  the  current  folklore 
of  his  day  was  converted  to  religious  purposes.  The  great 
things  of  nature,  too,  the  "patient  earth,"  the  wonderful 
Indian  moon,  the  sun  in  his  splendor,  the  majestic  rivers — 
these  supplied  him  with  a  wealth  of  imagery. 

Gotama's  methods  of  dealing  with  lay  folk  are  well  illus- 
trated by  the  incident  of  the  Brahmin  farmer,  Bharadvaja, 
who  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  ministry  asked  him  why  he 
did  not  work  for  his  living,  and  was  answered  in  the  charm- 
ing parable  of  the  Sower,15  in  which  Gotama  claims  that  he, 
too,  is  a  farmer,  and  that  he  sows  seed  whose  crop  is  am- 
brosia: which  of  course  led  to  the  farmer's  conversion!    As 


18  "Buddha,"   E.  T.,   p.    181. 

14  Samyutta  Nikdya,  III.  1,  3. 

15  See  "The  Heart  of  Buddhism,"  pp.  19,  20. 


58  Gotama  Buddha 

Sariputta  remarked,  "It  is  by  similes  that  men  come  often 
to  understanding."16 

As  his  fame  spread  many  came  to  him  to  seek  consolation 
in  bereavement,  but  it  must  be  confessed,  only  to  receive  cold 
comfort.  Best  known  is  the  case  of  the  young  mother  who 
brought  her  dead  child  to  him  and  was  told  to  seek  a  house 
where  Death  had  paid  no  visit,  and  get  from  it  mustard  seed. 
She  sought  in  vain  and  came  to  realize  that  Death  is  uni- 
versal, and  to  cease  from  vain  lamentation.17  Thus,  too,  he 
brought  the  aged  Visakha  to  a  calm  and  stoical  acceptance 
of  the  fact  that  Death  is  common  to  all. 

"The  Upasika  Visakha  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  alms  to 
the  Bhikkhus.  One  day  her  granddaughter  Suddata  who 
lived  with  her  fell  ill  and  died,  and  Visakha,  throwing  the 
body  into  the  charnel-pit,  was  unable  to  bear  the  grief.  So 
she  took  her  to  the  Buddha  and  sat  on  one  side,  sad  and  tear- 
ful. 'O  Visakha !'  asked  the  Blessed  One,  'wherefore  dost 
thou  sit  sad  and  mournful,  shedding  tears?'  She  told  him 
of  her  granddaughter's  death,  saying,  'She  was  a  dutiful 
girl,  and  I  cannot  find  her  like.' 

"  'How  many  men  are  there  dwelling  in  Savatthi,  O  Visa- 
kha?' 

"'Lord,  men  say  there  are  seven  kotis  (seventy  millions).' 

"Tf  all  these  were  like  thy  granddaughter,  wouldst  thou 
not  love  them?' 

"  'Verily,  Lord.' 

"  'And  how  many  die  daily  in  Savatthi  ?' 

"  'Many,  Lord.' 

"  'Then  there  is  never  a  moment  when  thou  wouldst  not  be 
grieving  for  some  one!' 

"True,  Master.' 

"  'Wouldst  thou  then  spend  thy  life  weeping  day  and  night?' 

"  T  understand,  Lord ;  it  is  well  said !' 

"  'Grieve  then  no  more.'  "18 

There  is  a  fine  sanity  about  Gotama  which  shines  through 
even  such  seeming  coldness,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  his 
words  were  spoken  with  real  compassion  and  with  an  earnest 


uMajjhima,  XLIII. 

""Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  X.  106. 

u"The  Heart  of  Buddhism,"  pp.  81,  82.     From  Dhp.  Commentary. 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     59 

desire  to  help.  He  was  ever  accessible  to  inquirers  and  to 
those  who  needed  advice.  And  he  moved  amongst  them 
always  serene  and  master  of  himself,  always  courteous  and 
considerate.  In  the  early  books  of  the  Pali  Canon  there 
seems  to  be  revealed  a  struggle  just  beginning  between  the 
moral  ideals  of  self -culture  and  altruism ;  let  the  student  com- 
pare many  passages  of  the  Dhammapada,  for  example,  with 
the  story  of  Punna  or  with  the  famous  hymn  on  "Compas- 
sion" given  in  Appendix  III  and  he  will  realize  that  this 
conflict  naturally  gave  birth  to  the  two  great  schools  of 
Buddhism. 

The  disciples,  however,  seem  for  the  present  to  have  dwelt 
together  in  great  unity,  each  honoring  the  other  for  his 
contribution  to  the  common  life,  all  devoted  to  their  leader. 

The  Majjhima  Nikaya  gives  us  a  charming  picture  of  the 
teacher  surrounded  by  his  disciples,  and  enables  us  to  dis- 
cover what  were  the  gifts  most  highly  valued  amongst  them. 
Moggallana  and  Kassapa  go  to  hear  Sariputta  discoursing; 
Anuruddha,  Revata,19  and  Ananda  join  them.  Sariputta 
greets  Ananda  thus:  "Welcome,  twice  welcome,  it  is  the 
Venerable  Ananda  who  waits  upon  the  Blessed  One,20  who 
is  ever  near  the  Blessed  One!  Charming,  friend  Ananda, 
is  Gosingam  Wood,  clear  and  cloudless  are  the  nights,  the 
lordly  trees  are  decked  in  a  wealth  of  fruit  and  blossom,  fra- 
grance as  it  were  from  heaven  is  wafted  abroad.  Of  what 
sort,  friend  Ananda,  is  the  monk  who  adds  to  the  glory  of 
Gosingam  Wood?" 

Each  of  the  Brethren  answers  in  turn;  Ananda  that  "he 
who  is  well  informed,  treasures  learning,  accumulates  learn- 
ing, and  hands  it  on  with  comments  and  explanations,  he 
is  the  monk  who  adds  to  the  glory  of  Gosingam  Wood." 

Revata  says  that  it  is  the  monk  who  delights  in  meditation 
and  attains  to  ecstasy  and  penetrating  insight  in  solitary 
places  who  adds  to  the  glory  of  the  Wood ;  Anuruddha  that  it 
is  the  man  who  has  attained  to  "the  heavenly  eye"  and  sees  a 


10  Revata  was  a  brother  of  Sariputta. 

20  An   indication   that   this   incident   belongs   to   the   last   thirty   years   of 
his  public  ministry. 


60  Gotama  Buddha 

thousand  worlds;  Kassapa  that  it  is  the  man  who  leads  the 
forest  life  and  sings  its  praises,  who  sings  the  praises  also  of 
the  mendicant  life,  its  poverty,  solitude,  ordered  meditation, 
and  the  knowledge  and  deliverance  which  proceed  from 
them,  who  adds  a  glory  to  the  Wood. 

Moggallana  says:  "Two  monks,  friend  Sariputta,  discuss 
together  the  deeper  things  of  the  doctrine  by  putting  questions 
each  to  the  other.  And  having  answered  such  questions  each 
again  withdraws  apart,  their  conversation  having  been  edify- 
ing and  instructive.  Of  such  sort,  friend  Sariputta,  is  the 
monk  who  adds  to  the  glory  of  Gosingam  Wood." 

Lastly,  Sariputta  himself  is  asked  by  Moggallana  to  reply: 
"A  certain  monk,  friend  Moggallana,  bears  rule  over  his 
own  mind,  his  mind  does  not  bear  rule  over  him.  In  what- 
soever mental  attainment  he  desires  to  abide  during  each 
watch  of  the  day,  in  that  he  duly  abides,  just  as  a  king  or 
great  noble,  possessed  of  a  chest  full  of  garments  of  many 
different  colors,  in  the  morning  hours  wears  what  he  chooses 
for  the  morning  wear,  and  at  midday  whatever  robes  he  pre- 
fers for  midday  wear,  and  again  in  the  evening  wears  gar- 
ments which  he  has  selected  for  the  evening.  Of  like  kind 
is  the  monk  who  rules  his  mind  and  meditates  at  each  watch  of 
the  day  upon  what  he  will.  Of  such  a  sort,  Moggallana,  is  the 
monk  who  adds  to  the  glory  of  Gosingam  Wood." 

Having  each  answered,  they  agree  that  they  will  go  and  ask 
Gotama,  and  they  go  and  report  their  conversation  to  him. 
He  has  a  word  of  praise  for  each,  and  says  that  each  has 
answered  rightly  according  to  his  capacity  and  training ;  each 
has  spoken  out  of  his  own  experience,  and  therefore  truly. 
Sariputta  asks  which  has  spoken  best,  and  he  replies:  "Each 
of  you  in  his  way  has  spoken  well,  Sariputta;  but  now  hear 
from  me  what  sort  of  monk  adds  to  the  glory  of  Gosingam 
Wood.  The  monk,  Sariputta,  having  returned  from  his  beg- 
ging round  and  partaken  of  his  meal,  sits  down  with  crossed 
legs  under  him,  body  upright,  and  brings  himself  to  a  state 
of  recollectedness.  'I  will  not  rise  from  this  spot/  he  re- 
solves within  himself,  'until,  freed  from  clinging,  my  mind 
attains  to  deliverance  from  all   Bane.'     Such  is  the  monk, 


Daily  Life  of  Gotama  and  Disciples     61 

Sariputta,  who  truly  adds  to  the  glory  of  Gosingam  Wood."21 
In  another  passage  Gotama  compares  Moggallana  with  Sari- 
putta: "Like  a  woman  who  gives  birth  to  a  son,  so  is  Sari- 
putta to  a  young  disciple;  like  a  schoolmaster  who  educates 
him,  so  is  Moggallana."22  Here  we  get  tenderness  praised 
as  well  as  more  intellectual  qualities;  but  in  the  former  pas- 
sage it  is  noteworthy  that  neither  master  nor  disciples  make 
any  reference  to  the  glory  of  service.  Ananda,  as  we  should 
expect,  comes  nearest  to  it. 

Yet  these  leading  disciples  vied  with  each  other  in  waiting 
upon  Gotama,  till  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  public 
ministry  he  summoned  them  to  the  "Fragrance  Chamber"  and 
addressed  them  thus:  "O  monks,  I  am  now  an  old  man,  and 
some  of  you  as  you  wait  upon  me  are  clumsy  and  some 
self-willed,  turning  one  way  when  I  would  go  another.  Do 
ye  know  of  a  monk  who  shall  become  my  regular  attendant  ?" 
A  noble  emulation  followed  these  rather  blunt  words.  Sari- 
putta, who  was  known  as  the  "general  of  the  Dhamma,"  and 
Moggallana  both  prayed  to  be  allowed  to  wait  upon  him,  as 
did  all  the  other  chief  disciples.  Only  Ananda  kept  silence. 
He  had  no  great  gifts  of  mind  such  as  distinguished  the 
others,  and  when  they  questioned  him,  "Why  do  you  not 
speak  ?"  he  replied,  "Let  the  Master  choose !  Else  what  choice 
is  it?"  But  being  invited  by  Gotama  himself,  he  shrewdly 
laid  down  some  very  sensible  conditions — that  invitations  to 
the  Master  were  to  be  considered  first  by  him  and  that  he  was 
to  receive  no  special  privileges  except  those  of  waiting  upon 
Gotama  and  being  instructed  in  the  Dhamma  by  him.23 

So  Ananda  was  appointed,  and  for  twenty-five  years  was 
Gotama's  "faithful  shadow,"  combining  the  duties  of  pupil, 
body-servant,  and  chaplain  with  admirable  devotion — even 
though  at  times  he  was  accused  of  being  too  fussy  about  de- 
tails,24 whether  of  his  household  duties,  or  of  the  moral  teach- 
ings of  the  Dhamma.     Only  after  Gotama's  death  did  he  at- 


21  "Discourses  of  Gotama,  the  Buddha,"  tr.  by  Silacara,  II.   73-70. 
^Majjhima  Nikava,  III.   248. 
23  Theragatha,  CCLX. 
*Ibid.,  CXIX. 


62  Gotama  Buddha 

tain  Arahatship ;  but  it  was  not  for  want  of  earnest  striving 
and  whole-hearted  devotion  that  the  vision  tarried  so  long. 

Such,  then,  was  the  way  of  the  Sangha — a  way  of  quiet 
yet  strenuous  activity — in  which  there  was  time  for  the  life's 
courtesies,  and  abundant  leisure  for  discussion  of  those  prob- 
lems which  according  to  Gotama  are  "heart-wood"  problems — 
dealing  with  essential  points  of  conduct  or  of  mind  culture. 
That  there  were  abuses  in  the  Sangha  the  books  honorably 
and  faithfully  record — sins  of  the  flesh  crept  in,  both  those 
which  are  called  "natural"  and  those  which  are  abnormal, 
and  sins  of  schism. 

There  was  an  unruly  group  of  monks,  for  instance,  known 
as  the  Khabbaggiya  Bhikkhus,  who  seem  to  have  been  pos 
sessed  with  a  demon  of  mischief,  beating  the  novices  and  even 
pouring  dirty  water  on  the  nuns !  And  at  Kosambi  a  serious 
schism  took  place.  A  certain  monk  was  expelled  and  others 
took  his  part.  Gotama  cried  out,  "The  Order  is  divided !"  and 
in  great  distress  went  to  Kosambi  and  laid  down  legislation 
for  their  guidance.  But  things  got  worse  and  the  monks  even 
came  to  blows.  Gotama  told  them  the  beautiful  story  of 
Dighiti,  King  of  Kosala,  who  forgave  his  enemy  the  king 
of  Kasi,  and  taught  the  great  lesson  that  "hatred  never  ceases 
by  hatred,  but  only  through  love  is  it  put  to  an  end."25  Even 
this  did  not  pacify  them,  and  Gotama  left  them  saying,  "Truly 
they  are  fools  and  infatuate."  The  books  of  discipline  are  full 
of  warnings  against  the  sin  of  disorder  in  the  Sangha,  and 
Gotama  is  recorded  himself  to  have  said,  "Whoso  troubleth 
the  Order  abideth  for  an  age  in  perdition :  yea,  he  burneth  in 
hell."26  The  most  serious  schism  was  that  led  by  Devadatta, 
and  this  was  made  all  the  sadder  by  the  fact  that  Gotama  and 
he  were  both  old  men  when  it  came  to  a  head. 


Mahavagga,  X.  2  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XIII.). 
Ittivuttaka,  §19. 


CHAPTER    V 
THE  OLD  AGE  AND  DEATH  OF  GOTAMA 

The  morally  strenuous  do  not  die! — Dhammapada  21. 

In  the  year  491  B.  C.  King  Bimbisara  of  Magadha  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Ajatasattu,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  is  de- 
scribed in  the  Buddhist  books  as  "the  friend  and  supporter 
of  all  that  is  evil."  However  that  may  be,  he  carried  on  his 
father's  work,  and  by  conquering  Kosala  and  Vesali,  made 
Magadha  supreme  in  northeast  India. 

When  he  came  to  the  throne  Gotama  was  seventy-two  years 
old,  but  his  genius  still  shone  bright  and  clear,  and  he  seems 
to  have  lost  nothing  of  his"  virility  and  strength.  This  is  il- 
lustrated in  the  record  of  the  first  meeting  between  him  and 
the  new  king,  who  tried  to  test  him  by  asking:  "What  in  the 
world  is  the  good  of  this  renunciation  of  yours,  and  this 
Order  of  yours?  For  people  such  as  elephant-riders,  chari- 
oteers, archers,  slaves,  cooks,  barbers,  bath-attendants,  con- 
fectioners, potters,  garland-makers,  clerks,  accountants,  and 
the  like  who  follow  ordered  crafts  get  something  out  of  them. 
They  can  make  themselves  comfortable  in  this  world  and  keep 
their  families  in  comfort.  Can  you,  sir,  declare  to  me  any 
such  immediate  fruit  reaped  in  this  world  of  the  life  of  a 
recluse  P"1  To  which  Gotama  answered,  politely  yet  pointedly 
reminding  him  of  the  peasantry,  whom  he  had  not  mentioned, 
yet  upon  whom  as  taxpayers  both  he  and  his  court  depended; 
a  timely  reminder  to  the  landed  proprietor  in  India  then  as 
now,  and  an  indication  that  in  those  days  Kshatriyas,  like 
Brahmins,  paid  no  taxes. 

Though  they  now  met  for  the  first  time,  it  seems  clear  that 
some  at  least  of  the  Sangha  had  had  dealings  with  Ajata- 


1  Quoted  by  Rhys  Davids,  "Buddhist  India,"  p.  88. 


64 


Gotama  Buddha 


sattu  whilst  he  was  still  raj-kumara  (crown  prince).  De- 
vadatta,  who  came  to  Gotama  in  the  very  early  days  at  Anu- 
piya,  may  have  joined  the  Order  then,  or  more  probably  have 
wavered  for  some  years  before  he  was  admitted.2  When  he 
was  ordained  he  made  little  progress  in  the  essence  of  the  re- 
ligion, but  acquired  great  skill  in  magic  of  a  worldly  kind.3 
This  he  practiced  on  the  prince  of  Magadha  with  such  suc- 
cess that  he  brought  him  to  a  determination  to  murder  his 
father,  the  King,  and  to  help  oust  Gotama  from  the  leadership 
of  the  Sangha.    Black  magic  indeed ! 

Bimbisara  was  either  murdered  by  his  son,  or  in 
a  very  Indian  way  retired  in  his  favor.  The  books  gen- 
erally call  Ajatasattu  parricide,  but  whether  he  carried  out 
his  vile  plot  or  no,  he  secured  the  throne. 

When  the  news  of  Devadatta's  complicity  in  the  crime  was 
brought  to  Gotama,  he  replied  with  a  discourse  showing  that 
pride  goes  before  a  fall.  So  it  proved  with  Devadatta;  jeal- 
ousy and  pride  grew  unchecked  in  him,  until  he  openly  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  King  asked  Gotama  to  hand  over  the 
leadership  of  the  Sangha,  alleging  that  old  age  had  overtaken 
him.  Kern  drily  points  out  that  Devadatta  and  Gotama  were 
of  the  same  age ;  but  it  is  possible  that  he  had  become  a  novice 
whilst  still  a  child,  and  was  in  reality  a  good  deal  younger 
than  his  great  cousin. 

Gotama  was  of  a  sterner  mould  than  Bimbisara,  and  more 
was  at  stake  than  even  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  a 
kingdom !  Moreover,  he  had  no  intention  of  appointing  a 
successor:  the  Sangha  was  to  become  a  democracy,  not  a 
hierarchy.     He  denounced  Devadatta  with  these  comments: 

"He  is  as  one  who  seeks  to  pollute  the  ocean  with  a  jar  of 
poison  !"4 


2  Professor  Rhys  Davids  says  that  he  was  not  admitted  till  the  twentieth 
year  of  Gotama's  ministry,  but  this  statement  is,  I  venture  to  believe, 
based  on  a  misreading  of  the  Song  of  Ananda  quoted  below,  where  Ananda 
is  referring  not  to  the  time  he  had  been  a  Bhikkhu,  but  to  the  period  of 
his  personal  attendance  upon  Gotama.  There  is  not  sufficient  reason  for 
abandoning  the  accepted  tradition  that  Devadatta  was  one  of  the  Sakyan 
princes  who  joined  Gotama  at  the  beginning  of  his  public  ministry,  together 
with  his  cousin,  Ananda.  To  Professor  Rhys  Davids's  article  in  the 
"Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and   Ethics"   I   am  much  indebted. 

3  Vinaya,  II.  286. 
*Itivuttaka,   89. 


The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama     65 

"  As  is  the  plantain,  the  bamboo,  and  the  rush 
Each  by  the  fruit  it  bears  undone, 
So  is  the  sinner  by  men's  homage  slain."5 

This  admirable  detached  and  confident  spirit  he  maintained 
as  the  plot  thickened.6  The  various  attempts  of  Devadatta 
to  kill  his  master  are  described  in  detail  in  the  books.  The 
story  of  the  elephant  whom  he  made  drunk  and  then  let  loose 
upon  Gotama  is  improbable,  though  it  serves  to  illustrate  the 
belief  of  Gotama's  followers  in  his  great  power  over  the 
animal  world.7  That  which  tells  how  a  band  of  cutthroats 
hired  by  Devadatta  were  won  over  by  Gotama's  loving  and 
dignified  bearing  is  quite  probable.  They  were  not  the  only 
brigands  who  yielded  to  the  power  of  love,  as  it  was  embodied 
in  Gotama:  Angulimala,  who  wore  a  necklet  of  999  human 
fingers  taken  from  his  victims,  is  an  even  more  famous  case, 
and  the  story  of  his  conversion  is  still  used  in  Buddhist  lands 
as  a  charm.8 

Devadatta's  next  move  was  to  split  the  Sangha;  he  de- 
manded a  more  ascetic  rule  of  life,  urging,  amongst  other 
things,  that  the  monks  should  dwell  only  in  the  woods,  should 
eat  no  meat,  and  should  clothe  themselves  in  cast-off"  rags. 
These  proposals  Gotama,  with  splendid  sanity,  rejected;  but 
Devadatta  had  now  a  fairly  strong  case  for  appealing  to  the 
younger  spirits  in  the  Order,  500  of  whom  are  said  to  have 
joined  him.  As  the  Dhammapada9  says:  "Honey-sweet  to 
the  fool  is  his  sin  until  it  ripens;  then  he  comes  to  grief," 
and  "When  the  fool's  wisdom  bears  evil  fruit  it  bursts 
asunder  his  happiness,  and  smashes  his  head."10  Devadatta 
was  riding  for  a  fall !  We  find  him  at  last  surrounded  by  a 
multitude  of  adherents  discoursing  on  his  view  of  the  doc- 


5  Samyutta,  I.   153. 

8  In  the  Milinda  Panha,  VII.  6,  11  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East," 
XXXVI.  355),  Sariputta  is  represented  as  saying  that  Gotama  was  equally 
minded  to  Devadatta,  the  conspirator,  and  to  Rahula,  his  own  worthy  son. 

7  Like  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  and  other  saints  Gotama  does  seem  to  have 
had  a  strange  power  over  animals.  Cf.  the  Cariya  Pitaka,  in  which  he 
claims  to  have  lived  in  a  former  birth  surrounded  by  wild  beasts  whom 
his  benevolence  had  tamed. 

8  Cf.   the  story  of  St.   Francis  and   the  robbers.     Fioretti,   p.   26. 

9  69-72. 

10  Ibid. 


66  Gotama. 'Buddha 

trine.  He  sees  Sariputta  and  Moggallana  approaching  and 
rejoices,  thinking  that  they  have  come  to  join  him.  Contin- 
uing the  discourse  far  into  the  night  he  falls  asleep,  leaving 
Sariputta  to  carry  on.  Sariputta  gives  them  a  lecture  on 
preaching,  and  Moggallana  follows  this  with  a  discussion  of 
true  magic  (iddhi)  as  opposed  to  false.  What  wonder  then 
that  when  Devadatta  awakes  he  finds  the  flock  scattered  and 
only  a  few  of  his  followers  left?  We  are  told  that  the  blood 
poured  from  his  mouth,  which  suggests  that  a  fit  of  apoplec- 
tic rage  came  upon  him.  Here  we  may  leave  him,  though  a 
later  book  tells  a  story  of  a  visit  when  near  his  death  to  Go- 
tama; and  of  how  he  claimed  his  kinship  with  the  Master, 
and  repeated  the  formula  of  refuge;  soon  afterwards  he  died 
and  went  to  hell. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  details  of  this  story,  it  seems 
pretty  clear  that  not  only  Buddhists,  but  Jains  and  others  out- 
side the  Order,  knew  about  the  schism.11  It  is  characteristic 
of  the  Buddhist  books  that  the  case  of  Devadatta  is  used  rather 
to  enforce  the  lesson  of  emancipation  of  mind12  as  the  central 
object  of  the  religion,  than  as  a  warning  against  disloyalty. 
Devadatta  is  a  typical  "fool"  rather  than  a  typical  "traitor," 
and  in  their  boundless  optimism  the  books  maintain  that  it  is 
never  too  late  for  the  fool  to  have  his  eyes  opened ;  Buddhists 
even  believe  that  Devadatta  will  come  again  as  a  Buddha. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  this  defection  of  one  of  his  chief 
disciples,  involving  as  it  did  a  split  in  the  Sangha,  was  a  sore 
grief  to  the  aged  Gotama.  Confident  he  clearly  was  that  such 
pride  as  Devadatta's  must  come  to  a  speedy  end:  he  would 
not  allow  it  to  provoke  him  to  anger,  and  yet  this  betrayal 
by  one  of  his  own  household  must  have  clouded  and  saddened 
his  last  days. 

Another  crushing  blow  must  have  been  the  destruction  of 
his  people  in  the  seventh  year  of  Ajatasattu  by  Vidudabha, 
King  of  Kosala.  Vidudabha  was  a  son  of  the  Pasenadi  of 
Kosala  by  the  natural  daughter  of  one  of  the  Sakyan  nobles, 
and  a  slave-girl.13    When  he  grew  up  he  felt  that  his  father 


11  Cf.  Majjhima,  392,  quoted  by  Professor  Rhys  Davids,  E.  R.  E.,  IV. 

12  Cf.  Majjhima,  I.    192. 

13  See  above,  Chap.   I. 


The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama     67 

had  been  slighted  by  the  Sakyans,  and  his  own  life  clouded 
by  the  trick  they  had  played.  He  marched  upon  Kapilavatthu, 
and  exterminated  the  clan.14 

Ajatasattu  meantime  began  to  be  troubled  by  conscience, 
and  on  the  advice  of  JIvaka,  his  physician,  who  seems  to  have 
been  something  of  a  psychologist,  he  sought  Gotama  and 
under  that  gentle  and  skilful  knife  lost  the  "root  of  evil," 
even  though  he  had  to  endure  the  consequences  of  past  sin. 
We  find  him  wreaking  terrible  vengeance  upon  the  bandits 
who  murdered  the  venerable  Moggallana,  and  the  aged 
Teacher  calmly  arguing  that  neither  he  nor  they  could  have 
met  such  an  end  did  their  Kamma  not  demand  it,  Moggallana's 
culminating  after  innumerable  years. 

Gotama's  life  was  now  drawing  to  a  close;  there  are  events 
which  we  may  believe  occurred  in  this  evening  of  his  days, 
but  we  have  no  actual  chronology.  One  charming  incident, 
not  unlike  the  meeting  of  St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic  at  the 
end  of  their  days,  was  his  sojourn  with  Pukkusati  in  the 
"house  of  the  potter"  at  Rajagaha.  The  old  man  Pukkusati 
had  been  a  king  of  Taxila  in  Kashmir,  and  a  friend  of  Bim- 
bisara;  perhaps  the  two  kings  and  the  physician  JIvaka  had 
been  fellow-students  at  the  great  university.  Gotama  was 
wandering  alone  near  Rajagaha,  and  asked  a  night's  shelter 
at  the  potter's  house;  he  was  told  that  a  friar  of  noble  birth 
was  already  within,  but  was  allowed  to  share  the  hospitality 
of  the  house ;  and  the  two  old  men  sat  meditating,  till  Gotama, 
noting  the  serenity  of  his  companion,  asked  him  why  he  had 
left  the  world  and  who  was  his  teacher — apparently  a  recog- 
nized formula  on  such  occasions.  Pukkusati  replied  that  it 
was  the  Sakyamuni  whom  he  followed.  Gotama  did  not  make 
himself  known  at  once,  but  began  to  expound  the  Dhamma,  till 
Pukkusati  cried  out  with  joy,  "I  have  found  the  Master 
whom  I  sought."  So  sure  was  Gotama's  touch  on  human 
hearts  and  minds,  and  the  very  legends  show  how  great  an 
impression  he  made  upon  the  men  of  his  nation.  An  Indian 
disciple  has  written  of  him  thus : 


14  Jataka,   IV.    144,   quoted   by   Kern,    "Handbook   of  Indian    Buddhism, 
p.  40. 


68  Gotama  Buddha 

"More  potent  than  his  method  and  his  word  was  the  Blessed 
One's  wonderful  personality.  When  he  talked  with  men  his 
serene  look  inspired  them  with  awe  and  reverence,  and  his 
lovely  voice  struck  them  with  rapture  and  amazement.  Could 
mere  words  have  converted  the  robber  Angulimala  or  the  can- 
nibal of  Alavi  ?  To  have  come  under  his  spell  is  to  be  his  for 
ever.  He  was  a  winner  of  hearts.  It  is  not  so  much  because 
he  preached  the  truth  that  his  hearers  believed;  it  is  because 
he  had  won  their  hearts  that  his  words  appeared  to  them  true 
and  salutary.  A  single  word  from  him  was  enough  to  recon- 
cile King  Prasenajit  to  his  Queen  Mallika.  His  heart  always 
overflowed  with  kindness.  Was  it  not  the  effluence  of  the 
Master's  love  that  made  Roja  the  Mallian  follow  him  as  a 
calf  does  the  cow?  To  meet  him  is  to  be  penetrated  by  his 
love  (maitri)  and  to  know  him  is  to  love  him  forever."15 

Even  we  of  the  West  are  glad  to  echo  this  sentiment,  and  to 
acknowledge  that  charm  which  despite  the  lapse  of  twenty- 
five  centuries,  and  the  artificiality  of  the  records  which  en- 
shrine his  life,  still  lays  its  spell  on  our  hearts.  We  love  him 
for  his  amazing  courage,  for  his  sweet  reasonableness,  for  his 
quiet  dignity,  for  his  tenderness  to  all  living  things,  for  his 
moral  earnestness,  and  not  least  for  his  sturdy  protest  against 
unworthy  ideas  of  God  and  of  religion.  Sincerity  was  the 
keynote  of  his  life,  as  graciousness  was  the  secret  of  his  power 
over  men's  hearts.  In  the  happy  phrase  of  a  Japanese  disci- 
ple, "Here  was  a  king  of  the  spiritual  in  the  guise  of  beg- 
gary."16 

Gotama  was  now  seventy-nine  years  old.  He  continued  his 
ministry  of  preaching  and  teaching,  revisiting  his  favorite 
haunts,  from  Pataliputta  in  the  southeast  to  Savatthi  in  the 
northeast,  and  the  incident  of  his  advice  to  the  Vajjians  may 
belong  to  this  period;  as  does  his  prophecy  that  Pataliputta, 
then  being  fortified  by  Ajatasattu,  would  become  a  great  city17 
— both  examples  of  shrewd  insight. 


15  Narasu,  "The  Essence  of  Buddhism,"  2d  edition,  p.  21.  The  author 
is  a  convert  from  Hinduism  to  Buddhism.  Roja  was  a  rather  bitter  opponent 
of  the  Sangha,  whom  Gotama  converted  by  "sending  out  to  him  a  wave 
of  benevolence."     Mahavagga,  VI.  36,  4. 

18  Riusaku  Tsunoda,  "The  Essence  of  Japanese  Buddhism,"  p.  16.  The 
author  as  a  Buddhist  missionary  has  proved  his  devotion. 

17  Mahavagga,  VI.  28   ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XVII.  101). 


The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama     69 

We  still  find  the  great  ones  of  the  land  competing  for  the 
honor  of  entertaining  him;  thus  the  courtesan  Ambapali 
outdid  the  Licchavi  nobles  and  entertained  him  sumptuously  at 
Vesali.18  From  there  he  went  to  a  village  named  Beluva, 
where  he  spent  his  last  retreat.  Here  a  severe  illness  laid 
him  low  and  he  felt  that  death  was  approaching,  but  he  con- 
tinued visiting  his  disciples  to  the  end.  At  Pava  he  took  a 
meal  at  the  house  of  Chunda,  the  smith.  Some  very  tough 
pork  was  set  before  him,  and  Gotama,  anxious  not  to  hurt 
the  poor  man's  feelings,  ate  it.  Then,  with  a  whimsical 
smile,  he  asked  Chunda  to  bury  what  was  left,  "for  no  one 
in  the  world  except  a  Buddha  could  digest  it."  He  was  seized 
with  an  attack  of  dysentery,  yet  pressed  on  to  Kusinara,  where 
under  some  sandal  trees  he  bade  Ananda  spread  a  couch  for 
him;  there  he  lay  down  on  his  right  side,  with  his  head 
towards  the  north,  "in  the  lion  attitude."  It  is  thus  that  the 
ancient  monuments  depict  him,  calm  and  serene,  yet  very 
weary,  with  Ananda  standing  in  tears  at  his  head.  To  the  last 
his  spirit  shone  clear  and  even  humorous.  Thus,  when  one 
of  the  monks,  or  as  the  Burmese  record  has  it,  a  stout  nun, 
stood  fanning  him,  he  said  rather  harshly,  "Stand  aside"; 
when  Ananda  asked  the  reason  for  this  harshness,  Gotama, 
with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  we  may  be  sure,  replied  that  there 
were  myriads  of  gods  anxious  to  have  a  sight  of  the  Master, 
and  this  "powerful  one"  stood  in  the  way !  To  Ananda,  weep- 
ing bitterly  and  crying,  "Behold,  I  am  but  a  learner  and  not 
yet  perfect,  and  my  teacher  is  passing  to  Nibbana,  he  who  was 
so  compassionate  to  me,"  Gotama  sent  a  message,  and  when 
he  came  and  stood  respectfully  at  one  side,  "Enough, 
Ananda,"  he  said,  "weep  no  more.  Have  I  not  already  told 
thee  that  it  is  in  the  nature  of  things,  however  dear,  that  we 
must  be  separated  from  them?  How  can  it  be,  Ananda,  that 
what  has  been  born  should  not  perish?  Long,  O  Ananda, 
hast  thou  waited  on  the  Blessed  One  with  kind,  devoted,  and 
single-hearted  service.  Much  merit  has  thou  acquired,  O 
Ananda !  Continue  to  strive  and  soon  thou  wilt  be  free  from 
all  trace  of  evil."     Then  he  commended  Ananda  to  the  rest 


lsMahavagga,  XVII.   105. 


jo  Gotama  Buddha 

for  his  four  wonderful  qualities,  amongst  them  his  popular 
preaching,  alike  to  the  initiated  and  the  lay-people,  and  his 
devoted  service.  When  he  had  spoken,  Ananda,  true  to  his 
character,  fussily  urged  Gotama  to  leave  this  "wattle  and 
daub"  town  in  the  jungle  and  to  go  to  one  of  the  big  cities, 
such  as  Rajagaha  or  Benares,  and  make  a  dignified  end  in 
more  respectable  surroundings!  Gotama  refused  and,  devis- 
ing a  task  to  keep  the  poor  old  man  busy,  sent  him  to  tell  the 
Mallas  that  the  Blessed  One  was  passing  away  in  their  ter- 
ritory and  to  summon  them  to  his  side.  The  whole  clan 
came  out,  and  Ananda,  with  his  love  of  order,  marshaled 
them  by  families  and  brought  them  in  this  order  to  do  rever- 
ence to  Gotama.  To  Ananda's  question  as  to  what  should  be 
done  with  his  body  after  death  Gotama  bade  him  leave  such 
matters  to  the  pious  laity.  It  is  clear  that  he  found  the  poor 
old  man  rather  officious ! 

The  wandering  ascetic  Subaddha  was  anxious  to  have  a 
doubt  in  his  mind  cleared  before  the  Master  died,  and  Ananda 
refused  him  admission.  But  Gotama,  overhearing  the  con- 
versation, cried:  "Enough,  Ananda,  hinder  him  not.  Let 
Subaddha  ask,  for  he  asks,  not  to  trouble  me,  but  to  gain 
wisdom."  Seated  respectfully  at  one  side,  Subaddha  asked 
whether  the  other  teachers,  including  Makkhali,  Gosala, 
Ajita,  Safijaya,  and  others  had  really  discovered  truth  as  they 
maintained,  or  were  impostors.  To  this  Gotama  replies  that 
in  whatever  doctrine  and  discipline  the  noble  eight-fold  path 
is  not  found,  there  are  not  found  true  monks:  "But  let  those 
within  the  Order  live  rightly  and  the  world  will  not  lack 
saints."  "Wonderful,  sir,  wonderful,"  cried  Subaddha,  who 
seems  to  have  been  a  simple  soul,  and  joined  the  Order.  Then 
Gotama  turned  to  Ananda :  "It  may  be,  O  Ananda,  that  some 
of  you  will  think  the  word  of  the  Teacher  belongs  to  the  past ; 
we  have  no  teacher  any  more ;  but  that,  O  Ananda,  is  a  wrong 
view.  The  doctrine  and  discipline,  O  Ananda,  which  I  have 
taught  you,  let  that  be  your  teacher  when  I  am  gone."19    Then 


19  That  Ananda  learned  his  lesson  well  is  shown  by  the  story  of  his 
meeting  with  Vassakara,  a  general  whom  Ajatasattu  had  put  in  charge 
of  the  work  of  fortifying  Rajagaha.  Asked  by  the  general  how  the  unity 
of  the  Sangha  could  be  maintained  if  no  Head  was  apparent,  he  replied, 
"We  have  the  Teaching."     One  wonders  if  this  satisfied  the  military  mind! 


The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama     71 

there  followed  some  details  as  to  organization,  and  the  com- 
mand to  punish  one  of  the  brethren  who  had  been  unruly. 
Lastly,  Gotama  asked  them  all  if  there  was  any  doubt  or  per- 
plexity in  their  minds.  "Ask  now,  O  monks,  lest  afterwards 
ye  feel  remorse,  saying,  'Our  teacher  was  present  with  us,  yet 
we  failed  to  put  to  him  all  our  questions.'  "  Thrice  he  asked 
them,  and  thrice  they  kept  silence,  till  Ananda  broke  out :  "It  is 
wonderful,  Reverend  Sir,  it  is  marvelous !  I  believe  that  in 
the  whole  congregation  there  is  no  one  of  us  who  has  a  doubt 
or  a  perplexity  respecting  either  the  Buddha,  or  the  Doctrine, 
or  the  Order,  or  the  Eight-Fold  Path."  "With  you,  O  Ananda, 
it  is  a  matter  of  faith ;  but  with  the  Blessed  One  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  knowledge."  Then,  turning  to  them  all,  he  bade  them 
farewell,  saying:  "Now,  O  monks,  I  take  my  leave  of  you. 
All  things  are  composite  and  all  are  transient ;  work  with  dili- 
gence for  the  goal  of  freedom." 

These  were  his  last  words,  and  are  a  fitting  summary  of  the 
teaching  he  labored  so  hard  to  popularize  amongst  his  peo- 
ple. In  death  as  in  life  he  was  serene  and  stoical :  "death  so 
divinely  calm  and  tranquil,"  says  a  modern  Japanese  disciple, 
"has  no  parallel  in  human  history" — a  pardonable  exaggera- 
tion— "the  moon  paled,  the  river  sobbed  but  one  can  hardly 
exaggerate  the  sense  of  loss  of  the  disciples,  who  followed 
him  to  the  last  and  witnessed,  to  their  grief  and  joy,  the  most 
sublime  scene  of  human  history."20  Ananda,  weeping  beside 
the  Master  he  had  so  faithfully  served,  is  reported  to  have 
sung  this  song: 

"For  five-and-twenty  years  a  learner  I; 
No  sensual  consciousness  arose  in  me. 
O  see  the  seemly  order  of  the  Norm ! 
For  five-and-twenty  years  a  learner  I; 
No  hostile  consciousness  arose  in  me. 

0  see  the  seemly  order  of  the  Norm ! 

For  five-and-twenty  years  on  the  Exalted  One 

1  waited,  serving  him  by  loving  deeds, 
And  like  his  shadow  followed  after  him. 
For  five-and-twenty  years  on  the  Exalted  One 


20  "The   Essence  of  Japanese   Buddhism,"   p.   27. 


72  Gotama  Buddha 

I  waited,  serving  him  with  loving  speech, 
And  like  his  shadow  followed  after  him. 
For  five-and-twenty  years  on  the  Exalted  One 
I  waited,  serving  him  with  loving  thoughts, 
And  like  his  shadow  followed  after  him. 
When  pacing  up  and  down,  the  Buddha  walked, 
Behind  his  back  I  kept  the  pace  alway; 
And  when  the  Norm  was  being  taught,  in  me 
Knowledge  and  understanding  of  it  grew. 
But  I  am  one  who  yet  has  work  to  do, 
A  learner  with  a  mind  not  yet  matured; 
And  now  the  Master  hence  hath  passed  away, 
Who  e'er  to  me  such  sweet  compassion  showed  !"21 

The  other  disciples,  further  advanced  in  the  path  of  eman- 
cipation, were  more  stoical  and  Anuruddha  came  to  Ananda's 
help,  realizing,  it  would  seem,  that  the  only  way  to  comfort  him 
was  to  keep  him  busy.  He  sent  him  off  to  summon  the  Mallas, 
and  to  prepare  the  funeral  pyre.  Surrounding  tribes,  the 
Licchavis  and  others,  as  well  as  some  of  the  neighboring 
kings,  including  Ajatasattu,  claimed  a  portion  of  the  relics. 
At  first  the  Mallas  were  unwilling  to  part  with  any  of  them, 
but  a  Brahmin  Dona,  reminding  them  of  the  magnanimity 
and  forbearance  of  Gotama,  chid  their  churlishness.  So  Go- 
tama Buddha's  remains  were  divided  into  eight  equal  portions, 
some  of  which  are  being  unearthed  today  from  their  ancient 
places  of  burial.22 

The  date  of  his  death  has  been  variously  reckoned.  Max 
Muller  placed  it  at  477  B.  C.,  Oldenberg  at  480  B.  C.,  Kern  at 
370-380  B.  C.  Our  materials  for  arriving  at  this  date  are  the 
Ceylon  chronicles,  and  Greek  and  other  evidence  for  the  dates 


81  Theragathd,  1039-1045,  in  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids's  "Psalms  of  the  Breth- 
ren," p.   357.     The  "Norm"  is  the  Dhamma,  or  "Law." 

22  The  great  stone  coffin  discovered  in  the  Nepalese  Tarai  by  Mr.  W.  C. 
Peppe  in  1898  is  held  by  some  scholars  to  have  contained  relics  of  Gotama; 
but  Dr.  Fleet  has  made  a  strong  case  for  reading  the  inscription  of  the 
small  stupa  contained  in  the  coffin  as  follows:  "This  is  a  deposit  of  relics 
of  the  Blessed  One,  of  his  brethren  and  their  little  sisters,  their  wives 
and  children"  (Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1906).  And  the 
ornaments  contained  in  the  vessel  are  pathetic  trinkets  which  we  can  well 
imagine  as  adorning  the  little  victims  of  Vidudabha's  fury  when  he  sacked 
Kapilavatthu.  They  would  be  rather  incongruous  in  the  urn  of  the  Lion 
of  the  Sakyas!  Yet  very  similar  relics  have  recently  been  unearthed  in 
Peshawar. 


The  Old  Age  and  Death  of  Gotama    73 

of  the  Mauryan  Emperors  Chandragupta  and  Asoka.  Work- 
ing at  this  evidence  Cunningham  in  1877  arrived  at  the  date 
260  B.  C.  for  the  anointing  of  Asoka,  and  the  year  478  B.  C. 
for  the  death  of  Gotama. 

The  whole  question  has  since  been  very  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed, notably  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Fleet,23  who  places  the  death  of 
Gotama  on  October  13,  482  B.  C. 

The  place  is  described  as  a  sorry  little  town,24  and  seems 
to  have  lain  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers  Hiranyavati  and 
Achiravati,  the  modern  Little  Rapti  and  Gandak.  Another 
site  which  is  more  probable  is  near  Kasia  in  the  Gorakhpur 
District,  a  spot  regarded  as  one  of  highest  sanctity  from  the 
time  of  Asoka  onwards.  Several  monasteries  of  various 
dates  besides  other  buildings  and  many  votive  stupas  have 
been  built  upon  it,  and  Hiuen  Tsian  describes  a  colossal  image 
of  the  dying  Buddha,  which  might  well  mark  the  exact  spot. 
But  there  are  many  doubtful  points  which  still  have  to  be 
cleared  up  before  this  question  can  be  decided  with  any  meas- 
ure of  certainty. 

What  is  far  more  important  is  that  in  the  account  of  his 
last  days  and  death  we  have  a  document  of  whose  authenticity 
and  early  date  there  can  be  little  doubt;25  for  it  breathes  the 
very  spirit  of  his  life,  and  Ananda  and  the  other  principal  ac- 
tors in  it  are  not  the  lay-figures  of  so  many  of  the  Suttas, 
whose  role  is  to  say  'Yes,  yes/  or  'No,  no/  but  figures  of  flesh 
and  blood  infinitely  pathetic  as  they  gather,  calmly  for  the 
most  part,  yet  with  deep  sadness,  to  catch  the  last  words  of 
their  great  leader.  Can  we  wonder  that  these  words  and  those 
poignant  scenes  were  not  allowed  to  pass  unrecorded  ? 

It  speaks  much  for  the  frankness  of  the  records  that  they 
tell  us  that  no  sooner  had  the  Teacher  passed  away  than  the 
monk  Subhadda  bade  them  cease  their  lamentations.  "We  are 
well  rid,"  said  he,  "of  the  great  Sage.  He  harassed  us  by 
his  discipline.     Now  we  are  free  to  follow  our  own  bent." 


23  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,   1909. 

24  Jataka,  in  Cowell  and  Chalmers's  translation,  I.  231. 

25  Dr.  Rhys  Davids  calls  it  "the  oldest  and  most  reliable  of  our  authori- 
ties" and  holds  that  it  cannot  be  dated  later  than  the  fourth  century  B.  C. 
Yet  in  view  of  the  large  element  of  the  miraculous  in  it,  we  must  conceive 
it  as  being  edited  by  a  later  hand. 


74  Gotama  Buddha 

Here  was  another  Devadatta,  protesting  that  the  discipline 
was  too  severe,  whereas  the  arch-schismatic  had  complained 
that  it  was  too  lax !  But  most  of  the  Sangha  were  content  to 
follow  their  great  Chief,  and  he  died  calmly  confident  that 
his  teachings  would  prevail. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE  SECRET  OF  GOTAMA 

"Jettho  Settho  Lokassa" :  The  Honored  Elder  Brother  of 
Mankind. 

No  name  is  so  honored  throughout  the  East  as  that  of 
Gotama.  No  Indian  name  is  so  widely  revered  throughout 
the  world. 

His  teaching  has  inspired  missionaries  to  go  out  to  all  neigh- 
boring lands,  where  they  have  exerted  an  influence  incal- 
culably great  as  educators  and  philanthropists  as  well  as 
preachers;  and  today  after  many  centuries  of  inertia  his 
disciples  are  beginning  to  propagate  their  religion  in  the  West 
and  in  India,  where  it  has  almost  disappeared — though  not 
without  leavening  the  thought  and  sweetening  the  life  of  her 
peoples.  What  is  the  secret  of  Gotama's  amazing  success?  It 
is  to  be  found  chiefly  in  his  personality.  As  Dr.  Hopkins 
says  : 

"It  was  the  individual  Buddha  that  captivated  men;  it 
was  the  teaching  that  emanated  from  him  that  fired  enthusi- 
asm; it  was  his  position  as  an  aristocrat  that  made  him  ac- 
ceptable to  the  aristocracy,  his  magnetism  that  made  him  the 
idol  of  the  people.  From  every  page  stands  out  the  strong, 
attractive  personality  of  this  teacher  and  winner  of  hearts. 
No  man  ever  lived  so  godless  yet  so  godlike.  Arrogating 
to  himself  no  divinity,  despairing  of  future  bliss,  but  without 
fear  as  without  hope,  leader  of  thought  but  despising  lovingly 
the  folly  of  the  world,  exalted  but  adored,  the  universal 
brother,  he  wandered  among  men,  simply,  serenely ;  with  gen- 
tle irony  subduing  them  that  opposed  him,  to  congregation 
after  congregation  speaking  with  majestic  sweetness,  the  mas- 
ter to  each,  the  friend  of  all.     His  voice  was  singularly  vi- 


76  Gotama  Buddha 

brant  and  eloquent;1  his  very  tones  convinced  the  hearer,  his 
looks  inspired  awe.  From  the  tradition  it  appears  that  he 
must  have  been  one  of  those  whose  personality  alone  suffices 
to  make  a  man  not  only  a  leader  but  a  god  to  the  hearts  of 
his  fellows.  When  such  an  one  speaks  he  obtains  hearers. 
It  matters  little  what  he  says,  for  he  influences  the  emotions, 
and  bends  whoever  listens  to  his  will.  But  if  added  to  this 
personality,  if  encompassing  it,  there  be  the  feeling  in  the 
minds  of  others  that  what  this  man  teaches  is  not  only  a  verity, 
but  the  very  hope  of  their  salvation;  if  for  the  first  time  they 
recognize  in  his  words  the  truth  that  makes  of  slaves  free 
men,  of  classes  a  brotherhood,  then  it  is  not  difficult  to  see 
wherein  lies  the  lightning-like  speed  with  which  the  electric 
current  passes  from  heart  to  heart.  Such  a  man  was  Buddha, 
such  was  the  essential  of  his  teaching;  and  such  was  the  in- 
evitable rapidity  of  Buddhistic  expansion,  and  the  profound 
influence  of  the  shock  that  was  produced  by  the  new  faith 
upon  the  moral  consciousness  of  Buddha's  people."2 

All  students  of  that  wonderful  life  will  appreciate  the  sin- 
cerity of  this  tribute,  and  most  will  be  glad  to  endorse  it.  Of 
Gotama's  serenity,  of  his  moral  earnestness,  of  his  sweet  rea- 
sonableness, of  his  compassion,  of  his  wisdom,  and  above 
all  of  his  magnetic  winsomeness,  there  can  be  no  dispute. 
That  he  planned  wisely  and  built  on  strong  foundations,  the 
history  of  Buddhism  through  twenty-five  centuries  proclaims.3 

That  his  disciples  gave  him  a  place  which  the  modern 
world,  with  all  its  admiration,  must  needs  question  is  no  less 
evident.  Let  us  consider  a  typical  passage  in  the  early  Bud- 
dhist books : 

"At  one  time,  as  the  Blessed  One  was  wandering  here  and 
there  through  the  Kingdom  of  Kosala  with  a  large  following 
of  disciples,  he  came  to  a  place  called  Sala,  a  Kosalan  Brah- 
min village. 

"And  the  Brahmin  householders  of  Sala  heard  tell:  That 
very  ascetic,  the  venerable  Gotama  of  the  Sakyas,  who 
forsook     his     position     among    the     Sakyas     to     lead     the 


1  Cf.  Kern,  "The  Lotus,"  III.  21,  and  Fausboll's  Parayama  Sutta,  9 
(1131),  the  "deep  and  lovely  voice  of  Buddha,"  and  Theragatha,  CCXLIL, 
"his   voice    divinely    sweet";    also    "Sacred    Books    of    the    East,"    XII.    58. 

2  Hopkins,  "The  Religions  of  India,"  pp.   325,  326. 

8  For  a  Buddhist  poem  admirably  expressing  this  see  "The  Heart  of 
Buddhism,"   pp.   58-60. 


The  Secret  of  Gotama  77 

homeless  life,  is  traveling  about  Kosala  with  a  large  company 
of  followers,  and  has  arrived  at  Sala,  and  the  venerable  Go- 
tama enjoys  this  fair  fame:  "This  is  He,  the  Holy  One,  the 
Perfect  in  Knowledge  and  in  Conduct,  the  Auspicious,  the 
Knower  of  all  the  worlds,  the  Incomparable  Trainer  of  men 
that  wish  to  be  trained,  the  Teacher  of  gods  and  men,  the 
Awakened  One,  the  Holy  One !  And,  having  by  his  own 
powers  penetrated  this  world  with  its  gods  and  Maras,  and 
Brahmas,  its  ascetics  and  recluses,  the  whole  race  of  gods  and 
men,  He  makes  known  the  same.  He  proclaims  the  Truth, 
excellent  in  its  inception,  its  progress,  its  culmination,  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  and  according  to  the  letter  both.  He  preaches 
the  Holy  Life,  perfect  and  pure.  Blessed  it  is  to  behold  such 
an  Exalted  One !"  ' 

"Then  those  Brahmin  householders  of  Sala  went  whither 
was  the  Blessed  One,  and  drawing  near,  before  taking  their 
seats  respectfully  at  one  side,  some  gave  the  Blessed  One  rev- 
erential greeting,  some  exchanged  the  customary  compliments 
of  friendship  and  civility,  some  extended  folded  hands  towards 
the  Blessed  One,  some  announced  their  names  and  families 
to  the  Blessed  One,  whilst  others  took  their  seats  in  silence. 

"Thus  seated  respectfully  at  one  side,  these  Brahmin  house- 
holders of  Sala  now  spake  to  the  Blessed  One  as  follows : 

"  'For  what  reason,  on  what  account  is  it,  venerable  Go- 
tama, that  some  beings,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  body  after 
death,  go  upon  a  sorry  journey  to  ruin  and  woe  in  the  hell- 
world;  and  again,  for  what  cause,  do  some  beings,  when  the 
body  breaks  up  in  death,  go  upon  a  happy  journey  to  the 
heavenly  regions?' 

"  'On  account  of  evil  and  unrighteous  behavior,  O  house- 
holders, for  this  cause  it  is  that  some  beings  after  death  come 
to  realms  of  woe,  and  because  of  good  and  righteous  be- 
havior, O  householders,  do  other  beings  at  the  dissolution  of 
the  body  come  to  realms  of  bliss.'  "4 

We  have  only  to  read  such  a  passage,  one  of  many  like  it 
in  the  Buddhist  books,  to  be  struck  by  the  contrast  between 
the  elementary  and  simple  doctrine  of  retribution  given  by  the 
teacher,  and  the  extravagant  titles  lavished  upon  him  by  his 
followers.5 


*  "Discourses  of  Gotama  Buddha,"  tr.  by  Silacara,  II.   152,   153. 
5  Other    claims    made    for    Gotama    by    the    canonical    books    are    magical 
powers   enabling  him   to    handle    sun   and   moon,    knowledge   of   his    former 


78  Gotama  Buddha 

Whether  we  really  believe  that  such  language  was  used 
during  his  lifetime  or  not,  it  is  clear  that  it  was  adopted  by 
those  who  wrote  and  edited  the  books.  How  are  we  to  account 
for  this  astonishing  promotion  from  the  position  of  leader 
of  a  band  of  ascetics  to  "teacher  of  gods  and  men"?  Per- 
sonal magnetism,  moral  prestige,  and  above  all  radiant  confi- 
dence in  his  discovery — these  are  the  main  elements  in  his 
success.  And  to  these  we  must  add  that  the  India  of  his  day 
was  hungry  for  a  way  of  finding  peace  and  a  way  of  escape 
from  rebirth;  for  to  them,  as  to  their  descendants,  "life  was 
but  one  stage  of  a  measureless  journey,  whose  way  stretched 
back  through  all  the  night  of  the  past,  and  forward  through 
all  the  mystery  of  the  future."  And  they  were  weary  and 
afraid.  Here  was  a  teacher  confidently  claiming  to  give 
men  the  key  to  their  shackles ! 

The  narrative  which  we  have  quoted  here  proceeds  with  an 
elaboration  by  the  teacher  of  his  theme,  and  the  detailed  ap- 
plication of  it,  and  ends  with  the  following  instructive  pas- 
sages : 

"And,  if,  householders,  a  man  of  good  and  righteous  ways 
of  life  shall  wish:  'After  death,  may  I  be  reborn  among  the 
renowned  of  the  warrior  class  V  or :  'May  I  be  reborn  among 
the  renowned  of  the  priestly  class!'  or:  'May  I  be  reborn 
among  the  renowned  householder  class  I* — this  his  wish  may 
well  be  fulfilled:  he  may  indeed  be  reborn  into  an  eminent 
warrior  or  priestly  or  householder  family,  and  why  so  ?  Even 
because  he  has  been  of  good  and  righteous  ways  of  life. 

"Or  if,  householders,  a  man  of  good  and  righteous  ways  of 
life  should  cherish  the  desire:  'O  that  after  death  I  might 
appear  among  the  gods  of  the  Four  Great  Kings,  among  the 
gods  of  the  Thirty-and-Three,  among  the  gods  of  the  Realm  of 
Yama  or  among  the  gods  of  any  realm  whatsoever,  even  up  to 
the  Realm  of  Neither  Perception  nor  non-Perception' — this 
his  desire  might  well  be  granted :  he  might  indeed  after  death 
appear  among  whatsoever  gods  he  desires  to  appear. 

"Or  if,  finally,  a  man  of  good  and  righteous  ways  of  life 
should  thus  aspire:  'O  even  in  this  present  lifetime,  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  Banes,  being  freed  from  Bane,  penetrating 


existences,    perfect    insight    into    character.      Cf.    "Discourses,"    I.    87,    88. 
Majjhima,  II.   2,   etc. 


The  Secret  of  Gotama  79 

and  realizing  for  myself,  may  I  attain  to  the  Deliverance  of 
the  Mind,  the  Deliverance  that  is  through  Wisdom !' — this 
his  aspiration  may  indeed  be  satisfied;  he  may  indeed  attain 
in  his  present  lifetime  the  Deliverance  of  the  Mind  that  is 
through  Wisdom,  and  why  so?  Even  because  he  has  been  of 
good  and  righteous  ways  of  life."6 

"In  this  world,"  says  Lafcadio  Hearn,  "to  practice  the  high- 
est virtue  was  difficult;  and  the  great  rewards  were  hard  to 
win.  But  for  all  good  deeds  a  recompense  was  sure,  and  there 
was  no  one  who  could  not  acquire  merit."7 

These  statements  will  help  us  to  an  understanding  of  the 
extraordinary  influence  wielded  by  this  great  man  during  his 
life,  and  of  the  rapidity  with  which  he  was  promoted  to  a 
place  above  the  gods.  For  they  show  us  that  he  spoke  with 
the  calm  conviction  of  the  man  of  science;  that  whilst  he 
recognized  the  gods,  he  claimed  to  possess  a  veritable  key  of 
heaven  which  would  admit  the  good  man  into  their  company; 
and  above  all,  that  he  taught  with  the  same  calm  authority 
that  higher  than  the  life  of  any  god  was  the  life  of  Freedom 
to  be  attained  by  the  wise.  "Become  an  expert  in  my  doc- 
trine," he  said  in  effect,  "and  you  will  be  above  all  gods !"  In 
a  land  of  tropical  imagination  here  was  Reason  speaking ;  in  a 
land  of  subtle  metaphysics  here  was  a  champion  of  morality ! 

Set  this  serene  teacher  against  the  background  of  the  India 
of  his  day,  already  distracted  and  perplexed  by  a  hundred  con- 
flicting teachings  and  by  countless  rival  gods,  and  it  is  not  very 
difficult  to  understand  the  influence  that  he  wielded.  We  find 
today  that  the  simple  message  of  the  unity  of  God  carries 
ready  conviction  amongst  animistic  peoples.  Similarly  the 
preaching  of  cause  and  effect  in  the  moral  sphere  on  the  lips 
of  a  man  of  magnetic  personality,  and  triumphant  with  the 
sense  that  what  he  taught  he  had  himself  experienced,  worked 
like  a  charm  in  men's  hearts;  it  set  before  them  an  ideal  "at 
once  awful  as  law  and  humanly  near  and  gracious  as  the 
Master."  Yet  more  potent  than  his  preaching,  and  more  con-  [ 
straining  even  than  his  personality,  was  the  sense  of  emancipa- 
tion and  joy  which  radiated   from  him  and  his   followers. 


""Discourses  of  Gotama   Buddha,"  tr.  by  Silacara,   II.    158,    159. 
7  "Japan,"  p.  215. 


80  Gotama  Buddha 

Something  of  this  contagious  spirit  of  joy  we  may  still  catch 
as  we  read  the  songs  of  his  yellow-robed  company.  They 
were  as  men  who  had  been  lost  in  a  jungle-thicket,  and  had 
found  their  way  out  to  some  quiet  summit  of  the  hills,  austere, 
yet  invigorating  and  welcome  after  the  stifling  closeness  of 
those  tropical  forests.  Their  state  of  mind  was  not  unlike 
that  of  the  Christian  convert,  of  whom  it  has  been  said: 

"There  can  scarcely  be  found  in  the  world  a  joy  equal  to 
this  feeling  of  expansion.  It  is  almost  like  the  acquisition  of 
a  new  life.  It  is  like  what  we  can  imagine  the  feeling  of  a 
fish  to  be,  if  he  has  been  left  by  the  tide  in  a  land-locked  pool, 
and  begins  to  feel  the  flow  of  the  returning  waters;  or  what 
we  can  suppose  to  be  the  delight  of  the  dragon-fly  when  he 
shuffles  off  the  skin  of  his  life  in  the  pool  and  feels  his  wings 
expanding  for  flight."8 

"O  free  indeed  !  O  gloriously  free !  The  breath  of  Liberty 
sweeps  o'er  my  soul" — such  is  the  paean  of  the  early  Bud- 
dhists, monk  and  nun. 

And  whilst  Gotama  himself  lived  they  had,  no  doubt,  a 
sense  of  personal  devotion  which  in  some  measure  made  up 
for  the  sense  of  that  presence  of  the  "Divine  Lover,"  which 
is  so  real  a  thing  to  the  Christian  mystic. 

Did  Gotama  encourage  such  devotion?  There  are  pas- 
sages which  would  lead  one  to  think  that  he  saw  in  it  a  help 
ready  to  hand  to  those  who  would  tread  the  austere  path  along 
which  he  sought  to  guide  them,  and  yet  were  not  ready  for 
austerity  in  its  most  Buddhistic  heights !  He  certainly  en- 
couraged an  attitude  of  Saddha  (or  faith),  which  means  in 
Buddhist  psychology  serene  and  glad  confidence  that  all  is 
well,  because  the  teaching  is  true  and  the  teacher  infallible.9 
"The  glad  bhikkhu  who  puts  his  trust  in  the  Buddha's  preach- 
ing, goes  to  Nibbana,  calm  and  blissful  end  of  rebirth."10 

So  we  find  Kassapa  attributing  "faith"  to  Gotama  himself : 
he  is  saddhahattho  mahamuni,  "the  great  Seer,  who  has  faith 


8  Percy   Gardner,   "The   Religious   Experience  of   St.   Paul,"   p.   38. 

8  See  Childers's  Pali  Dictionary,  p.  352.  The  words  pasada,  cittapasada, 
and  manopasada,  are  constantly  used  in  the  sense  of  faith  in  Buddha, 
literally  rejoicing  because  of  the  joy  or  peace  of  mind  which  faith  in 
Buddha  brings  with  it. 

10Dhp.  381. 


The  Secret  of  Gotama  81 

as  his  hand"11 — a  fine  description,  which  reminds  us  of  Go- 
det's  saying  "Faith  is  the  hand  of  the  heart" — and  in  the  same 
poem  Kassapa  cries :  "The  Master  has  my  fealty  and  love  .  .  . 
low  have  I  laid  the  heavy  load  I  bore" ;  and  we  cannot  doubt 
that  personal  devotion  to  the  teacher  played  a  very  great  part 
in  his  religion.  "My  heart  is  joined  to  him,"  says  the  aged 
Pingiya,  whose  joy  and  solace  was  to  see  the  Master  with  the 
eyes  of  his  mind.12 

This  devotion  was  in  part  the  reverence  and  respect  due  to 
him  as  Leader  of  the  Sangha,  and  as  "the  most  honored  Elder 
Brother  of  the  world"  :13  but  it  did  not  lack  a  more  romantic 
and  even  passionate  note.  Sometimes  Gotama  would  check 
any  such  personal  element  in  it,  as  when  his  followers  wanted 
to  celebrate  a  festival  in  his  honor,  and  he  said  drily,  "Your 
business  is  with  morality,"  and  certainly  he  would  have  dis- 
approved of  the  title  "beloved  disciple"  given  by  modern 
writers  to  Ananda ;  but  a  great  and  winsome  personality  has  to 
put  up  with  the  devotion  he  inspires,  and  perhaps  even  Gotama 
realized  that  there  are  limits  to  human  powers  of  repression ! 
Devotion  to  this  great  teacher  soon  became  the  vital  and  cen- 
tral thing  in  the  new  religion.  The  beloved  leader  became 
not  only  deva,  but  devatideva,  god  of  gods  !14  "From  the 
beginning,"  says  Dr.  McNicol,  "there  was  rendered  to  Buddha 
what  can  only  be  described  as  worship,  though  it  was  not  at 
first  a  bhakti,  a  devotion.  No  place  is  found  in  the  early  'Ve- 
hicle' for  grace  or  for  prayer  in  any  sense  that  religion  can 
recognize.  But  Buddha  places  himself  in  a  relation  to  his 
monks  such  as  is  bound  to  develop  into  a  full-orbed  worship 
with  a  service  of  love  when  he  says  to  them,  'Whoever  would 
wait  upon  me,  he  should  wait  upon  the  sick.'  "15  With  this  I 
find  myself  in  almost  complete  agreement;  it  is  only  of  this 


11  Therag&tha,   1090. 

12  Sutta  Nipata. 

18  "Jettho  Settho  Lokassa" — this  is  the  name  which  seems  to  me  most 
clearly  to  express  the  correct  attitude  of  his  early  followers  towards  Gotama. 

14  In  the  Itivuttaka,  §22,  Gotama  is  made  to  declare,  "I  reach  the 
empty  palace  of  Brahma:  I  become  myself  Brahma  omnipotent,"  and  in 
the  Cullavagga  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XII.  58)  he  is  addressed  as 
"Sakka" — another   Hindu   god! 

18  "Indian  Theism,"  p.  71,  quoting  Mahavagga,  VIII.  26  ("Sacred  Books 
of  the  East,"  XVII.  240). 


82  Gotama  Buddha 

application  of  the  Buddha's  saying  that  I  am  not  quite  sure — 
for  may  it  not  be  that  this  was  one  of  the  cases,  and  there 
are  many,  in  which  he  was  gently  seeking  to  disentangle  the 
tendrils  of  personal  affection  from  himself?  In  support  of 
this  view  there  are  several  incidents  such  as  that  of  Vakkali,  a 
Brahmin  convert  who  seems  to  have  spent  his  time  gazing  at 
Gotama,  till  he  was  courteously  but  firmly  reminded  that  "He 
who  seeth  the  Teaching  he  it  is  who  seeth  the  Teacher."16 
Gotama  seems  ever  to  have  been  restless  in  the  presence  of 
the  devotee !  He  urged  on  all  his  followers  energy  and  sturdy 
effort,  and  such  devotions  may  be  enervating. 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  Majjhima  NikcLya,  which  makes 
the  matter  quite  clear:  "Whosoever  shall  turn  to  me,"  says 
Gotama,  "with  faith  and  love — he  shall  reach  the  heaven- 
world.  And  whatsoever  monks  shall  conform  themselves  to 
the  Teaching,  walking  in  full  faith — these  shall  attain  to  the 
Full  Awakening."17 

Devotion  to  the  Teacher,  in  a  word,  will  carry  you  far; 
obedience  to  his  Teaching  alone  will  "see  you  through"  to 
Nibbdna.  And  it  is  certain  that  he  encouraged  more  than 
any  other  gift  or  practice,  an  earnest  and  mindful  effort  to  fol- 
low the  austere  doctrine  he  taught.  "He  who  is  near  me," 
says  the  Itivuttaka,  "yet  is  covetous,  lustful,  and  malevolent 
is  far  from  me."  For  with  all  his  kindliness  Gotama  is  an 
austere  figure;  surgeon  as  well  as  physician;18  schoolmaster 
as  well  as  brother ;  king  as  well  as  friend.19 

He  was  by  no  means  always  gentle  in  his  dealing  with  op- 
ponents. Sometimes  he  realized  that  they  were  fools  and 
perverse,  and  left  them  severely  alone ;  thus  when  the  brethren 
of  the  monastery  of  KosambI  were  wrangling  he  entreated 
them,  for  the  sake  of  their  influence  on  the  world  at  large,  to 
make  up  the  quarrel,  and  when  they  were  obdurate  left  them 
abruptly,  saying,  "Truly  these  fools  are  infatuate;  it  is  no 


18  Theragatha,  CCV. 

17  "Discourses  of  Gotama,"  tr.  by  Silacara,  I.   181. 

18  "I   am   the   incomparable   physician,   who    in   healing  cause   pain,"   Iti- 
vuttaka,   §100. 

19  "I  am  the  incomparable  King  of  the  Dhamma,  turning  the  irresistible 
wheel,"  Mahavagga  C'Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XII). 


The  Secret  of  Gotama  83 

easy  task  to  issue  instructions  to  them."20  At  other  times  he 
so  cross-examined  and  harassed  opponents  by  his  remorseless 
logic  that  they  cried  out,  "A  man  might  go  unscathed  to  meet 
an  elephant  in  rut,  but  not  to  the  Venerable  Gotama !  A  man 
might  go  unscathed  to  a  blazing  fire,  but  not  to  the  Venerable 
Gotama  !  A  man  might  go  unscathed  to  a  formidable,  poison- 
ous reptile,  but  not  to  the  Venerable  Gotama  !"  To  the  hapless 
Aggivessana  he  pointed  out  that  the  sweat  was  pouring  from 
him  at  the  close  of  their  dialogue  !21  Nor  did  he  hesitate 
to  catechize  his  own  followers  very  thoroughly,  pressing  them 
point  by  point  to  acknowledge  that  they  had  still  some  way 
to  travel  upon  the  road  to  Attainment.  He  moves  amongst 
them  with  the  ease  and  dignity  of  unquestioned  authority,  and 
with  straightforward  bluntness  at  the  very  last,  when  Ananda 
had  ventured  to  comment  upon  the  remarkable  fact  that  in  the 
great  assembly  of  the  faithful  there  was  not  one  who  enter- 
tained any  doubt  as  to  the  doctrine  of  Gotama,  he  replies: 
"You  say  this  in  faith,  Ananda,  but  I  say  it  because  I  know 
it" 

It  is  this  kind  of  thing  which  has  led  to  the  impression  that 
he  was  pompous  and  very  solemn.  For  example,  the  early 
records  say  that  he  smiled  for  the  first  time  in  seven  years 
when  he  visited  Kapilavatthu  after  his  Enlightenment !  The 
traditional  statues  of  him  also  show  a  dignified  and  solemn 
countenance,  but  there  are  some  in  which  his  face  is  lit  with 
a  smile,  and  one  would  fain  believe  that  these  are  truer  to  the 
facts :  thus  Sunita,  whose  story  is  told  above,  tells  us  that  the 
Master  smiled  on  him.  There  are  certainly  sayings  attributed 
to  him  which  are  humorous  enough ;  and  it  is  significant  that 
several  occur  in  the  record  of  his  last  days;  perhaps  because 
this  record — the  Mahapari-nibbana  Sutta — is  really  early,  and 
the  figure  of  the  Teacher  was  not  yet  conventionalized.  Thus, 
when  Ananda  asked  how  he  should  comport  himself  in 
the  presence  of  women,  he  replied,  "Avoid  them  altogether" ; 
and  when  the  literal  Ananda  urged  the  point  that  sometimes 
one  might  meet  them  unawares,    "Then  keep   wide  awake, 


20  Mahavagga,  X.  2. 

21  Yet    he   usually    had    a   kind    word    for    his    opponent   as   soon    as   he 
capitulated. 


84 


Gotama  Buddha 


Ananda,"  replied  the  teacher.22  And  there  is  a  pathetic  yet 
whimsical  humor  in  some  of  the  incidents  already  recorded. 
There  is  a  playfulness  about  his  questioning  of  his  followers 
which  reminds  us  at  times  of  Socrates  with  his  youthful  disci- 
ples. Much  he  had,  too,  of  the  Great  Teacher's  passion  for 
intellectual  truth,  and  this  can  hardly  be  unaccompanied  by  a 
sense  of  humor,  which  is  after  all  largely  a  sense  of  propor- 
tion. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  pointedness  and  brevity  about  many 
of  the  sayings  attributed  to  Gotama  which  may  fairly  be  called 
humor,  often  of  a  grim  kind  enough : 

"A  man  is  not  wise  through  much  speaking." 
"To  see  another's  fault  is  easy:  hard  is  it  to  see  one's  own." 
"No  man  is  made  an  'elder'  by  his  grey  locks :  mere  old  age 
is  called  empty  old  age." 

"  'Here  will  I  pass  the  wet  season,  here  the  winter  and 
summer'  thinks  the  fool  unmindful  of  what  may  befall.  Then 
comes  Death  and  sweeps  him  hence." 

"Better  swallow  a  ball  of  iron  heated  red,  than  to  live  un- 
worthy on  the  alms  of  the  faithful."23 

"As  one  who  wraps  up  stinking  fish  in  a  wisp  of  fragrant 
grass,  so  is  he  who  keepeth  company  with  fools."24 

We  must  believe,  then,  that  his  solemn  and  earnest  teach- 
ings were  not  unlit  by  humor  of  a  grim  kind,  and  that  this 
went  far  to  relieve  the  austerity  of  the  Teacher,  and  a  cer- 
tain graciousness  and  intimacy  of  tone  when  with  his  disci- 
ples do  still  more  to  convince  us  that  it  was  a  very  human 
figure  whom  they  reverenced  and  even  worshiped. 

As  he  lay  dying  he  asked  them,  it  will  be  remembered,  cer- 
tain questions:  and  when  they  remained  silent  he  sought  to 
put  them  at  their  ease:  "Maybe  it  is  from  reverence  to  the 
Teacher  that  ye  keep  silence:  let  us  rather  speak  as  friend 
to  friend."25 


22  Yet  it  is  fair  to  add  that  later  accounts,  e.g.  the  Burmese,  add  the 
beautiful  words,  "When,  however,  you  must  speak  to  women,  consider 
them,  if  they  are  aged,  as  mothers,  and  if  they  are  young,  treat  them  as 
sisters."  There  has  been  progress  in  Buddhist  lands  as  elsewhere  in  this 
matter,  till  in  Burma  there  is  real  partnership  between  man  and  wife. 

23  Dhammapada,  258,  252,  260,  286,  297.  Translation  by  Wagiwara  and 
Saunders. 

24  Itivuttaka,  76. 

25  Mahapari-nibbana   Sutta. 


The  Secret  of  Gotama  85 

For  in  a  land  where  all  are  courteous  Gotama  was  pre- 
eminent for  courtesy  ;26  and  in  a  land  where  humility  is  always 
honored  he  was,  in  spite  of  the  tremendous  claims  made  on  his 
behalf,  great  in  his  humility. 


28  The  Milinda  Panha  quotes  Sariputta  as  saying,  "The  Blessed  One 
was  always  perfect  in  courtesy."  ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XXXV. 
229.) 


CHAPTER    VII 

GOTAMA  AS  TEACHER 

The  gift  of  the  Teaching  excels  all  other  gifts. — Dham- 
mapada  354. 

We  have  seen  that  Gotama  claimed  to  be  "King  of  the 
Dhamma"  and  it  is  as  a  teacher  of  morals  that  he  must  be 
finally  judged.  It  is  so  that  he  viewed  his  own  mission;  like 
Socrates  he  was  a  physician  of  the  soul,  and  anything  that 
did  not  tend  to  moral  health  he  ignored.  In  this  sphere  he 
claims  to  teach  as  one  who  is  himself  without  fault,  and  it 
was  largely  his  moral  prestige  which  won  for  him  so  ready 
a  hearing.  This  claim,  explicitly  made  in  many  passages  such 
as  those  quoted  above,1  is  implied  in  several  of  his  sayings: 
"Does  this  man,  himself  a  slave  to  desire,"  he  asks  concern- 
ing a  skeptical  monk,  "claim  to  excel  the  teaching  of  the  Mas- 
ter?"2 and  that  teaching  was  almost  exclusively  concerned 
with  the  moral  life  and  its  reward. 

Gotama  was  not  a  social  reformer  except  in  the  secondary 
sense  which  is  true  of  all  religious  and  moral  teachers;  he  is 
said,  in  fact,  to  have  warned  some  of  his  monks  to  avoid  the 
example  of  certain  heretics  who  were  acting  also  as  doctors.3 
Their  task  was  to  administer  a  moral  tonic :  let  them  see  to  it ! 

Nor  was  he  a  teacher  of  philosophy;  again  and  again  he 
insists  that  he  has  no  concern  with  metaphysics,  and  when 
men  press  him  for  information  on  such  high  and  difficult  mat- 
ters as  the  origin  of  the  world,  he  refuses  to  discuss  them. 

"It  is,  Brothers,  as  if  a  man  were  pierced  through  by  a 
poisoned  arrow,  and  his  friends,  companions,  and  near  rela- 


1  See   also   Anguttara   Nik&ya,   IV.    82,    quoted   by    Poussin,    "Opinions," 
p.  142. 

2  Samyutta  Nikaya,   III.   103.     Ibid.,  p.   149. 

'Tevijja  Sutta   ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  XI.   200). 


Gotama  as  Teacher  87 

tives  called  in  a  surgeon,  and  he  should  say,  'I  will  not  have 
this  arrow  pulled  out  until  I  know  who  the  man  is  that  has 
wounded  me;  whether  he  is  of  the  royal  caste  or  of  the 
priests'  caste,  a  citizen  or  a  servant';  or  else  he  should  say, 
'I  will  not  have  this  arrow  pulled  out  until  I  know  who  the 
man  is  that  has  wounded  me,  whether  he  is  tall  or  short,  or 
of  medium  height';  verily,  Brothers,  such  an  one  would  die 
ere  he  could  sufficiently  get  to  know  all  this."4 

So  convinced  was  he  that  these  metaphysical  speculations 
were  unprofitable  that  on  one  occasion  he  departed  from  his 
habitual  reverence  for  the  gods  to  tell  a  story  of  the  visit 
of  one  of  his  disciples  to  Brahma,  who,  after  several  vain 
attempts  at  parrying  the  questions,  confessed  that  he  had  no 
answer  to  give  and  sent  him  back  to  Gotama  who  alone 
could  satisfy  him.  To  whom  Gotama  spoke  with  kindly 
irony,  "As  a  bird  whom  sailors  loose  to  discover  land,  comes 
back  if  it  fail  to  find  it,  so  having  failed  to  find  the  truth 
from  Brahma  thou  returnest  to  me."5  Gotama's  real  attitude 
to  Brahma  is  probably  best  indicated  in  the  Tevijja  Sutta, 
where  he  laughs  at  the  Brahmin  claim  to  have  communion 
with  Brahma  and  says  in  immortal  words,  "To  pervade  the 
world  with  kindliness,  pity,  sympathy,  and  equable  feeling — 
that  is  the  way  to  union  with  Brahma." 

In  another  place  he  discusses  six  current  views  about  the 
soul  and  describes  them  as  "mere  views,  a  snare  of  views,  a 
labyrinth  of  views,  a  puppet-show  of  views,  a  tangle  of  views, 
in  which  the  worldling,  ignorant  of  the  truth,  is  entangled  so 
that  he  cannot  be  freed  from  rebirth,  from  decay,  and  death, 
from  sorrow,  lamentation,  and  despair." 

Gotama,  then,  looked  upon  himself  as  a  physician,6  who  had 
a  practical  cure  to  offer  men,  and  inasmuch  as  all  were  sick 
he  felt  the  urgency  and  greatness  of  his  task.  In  his  diagno- 
sis all  men  suffer  because  all  sin;  if  they  would  be  free  from 
suffering  they  must  free  themselves  from  sin.  Asked  how  this 
is  done,  he  replies  that  it  can  only  be  by  strenuous  effort,  each 


*  Majjhima  Nikiya,   I.    8. 

aDigha   Nikdya,   I.    215. 

8  Buddha-ghosa's  Commentary  on  the  Pirit  calls  Gotama  "physician" 
because  he  cures  the  disease  of  desire  with  the  medicine  of  Dhamma:  and 
"surgeon"  because  he  amputates  false  views. 


88  Gotama  Buddha 

man  for  himself.  This  is  cold  comfort,  but  he  grasped  the 
all-important  truth  that  such  things  as  greed,  anger,  delusion, 
have  their  lodging  in  the  mind  and  heart,  and  he  gave  sane 
and  practical  advice  as  to  how  they  may  be  dislodged.  Thus 
in  the  Majjhima  Nikaya  he  lays  down  five  methods  of  ex- 
pelling evil  thoughts  :7 

1.  By  replacing  them  with  wholesome  thoughts: 

2.  By  manfully  facing  evil  ideas  and  seeing  how  unwhole- 
some and  pernicious  and  sorrow-fraught  they  are: 

3.  By  refusing  to  pay  attention  to  them: 

4.  By  analyzing  them  and  seeing  of  what  they  are  really 
composed : 

5.  By  suppressing  them  "with  clenched  teeth  and  tongue 
pressed  against  the  gums." 

It  is  to  strenuous  self-control  that  he  calls  his  disciples,  and 
that  is  the  central  meaning  of  the  elaborate  system  of  medita- 
tion and  mind-culture  which  the  Sangha  carefully  built  up. 
"May  muscle,  skin,  and  sinews,  may  bones,  flesh,  and  blood 
shrivel  and  dry  up  rather  than  I  should  abandon  my  efforts 
while  as  yet  I  have  not  attained  to  all  that  is  attainable  by 
human  perseverance,  energy,  and  effort.  This,  Brothers,  is 
right  effort.,, 

Right  effort  is  to  be  assisted  by  a  method  of  analysis  which 
is  essential  to  the  system  of  Gotama.  The  good  Buddhist 
is  to  contemplate  his  own  body  and  analyze  it  with  anatomical 
mind,  until  he  is  convinced  that  it  is  built  up  of  so  many  bones, 
so  many  muscles,  so  many  nerves,  and  so  forth.  Then  he  is 
to  contemplate  the  foulness  of  these  things:  "The  body  has 
hair  on  the  head,  is  covered  with  hair,  has  nails,  and  teeth,  skin 
and  flesh,  bones  and  marrow,  liver  and  intestines;  it  has  cer- 
tain juices,  secretions  and  excretions."  This  analysis  leads 
to  disgust  and  detachment.    Or  the  disciple  is  to  go  further: 

"And  further  still,  Brothers,  just  as  if  the  disciple  should 
see  a  corpse  lying  on  the  burial  ground,  one  day  dead,  or  two 
or  three  days  dead,  swollen  up,  blue-black  in  color,  a  prey  to 
corruption,  he  concludes  as  regards  himself,  'My  body  also 
shall  so  become,  has  a  like  destiny,  cannot  escape  it.' 


7  Majjhima  NikSya,  20. 


Gotama  as  Teacher  89 

"And  further  still,  Brothers,  just  as  if  the  disciple  should 
see  a  corpse  lying  in  the  burial  ground,  picked  to  pieces  by- 
crows,  or  ravens,  or  vultures,  stripped  of  its  flesh  by  dogs  or 
jackals,  or  gnawed  by  all  kinds  of  worms,  he  concludes  as  re- 
gards himself  'And  my  body  also  shall  so  become,  has  a  like 
destiny,  cannot  escape  it.'  "8 

Buddhism  has  been  called  "the  religion  of  analysis,"  and 
its  claims  to  psychological  exactitude  are  deservedly  recog- 
nized, for  Gotama  was  an  intuitive  psychologist  of  no  mean 
order.  Yet  in  this  method  of  arousing  disgust  modern  psy- 
chology will  find  a  strangely  perverse  attempt  to  play  off  the 
instinct  of  repulsion  and  the  accompanying  emotion  of  disgust 
against  other  emotions  and  instincts  which  are  of  more  abid- 
ing value  for  the  religious  life. 

And  in  considering  Gotama  as  teacher  we  are  bound  to  ask 
such  questions  as  these:  Does  this  method  of  analysis  not  de- 
stroy all  it  touches  ?  And  is  it  not  better  to  sublimate  the  in- 
stincts and  emotions  than  to  repress  them?  The  Buddhist 
method  of  analysis  would  reduce  the  works  of  Shakespeare 
to  a  combination  of  thirty-six  little  black  marks  on  a  white 
ground!  And  with  our  modern  knowledge  of  the  material 
universe  it  would  reduce  the  starry  firmament  to  a  combina- 
tion of  chemical  elements.  This  kind  of  analysis  does  not 
arrive  at  religious  truth.  If  it  be  urged  that  Gotama's  object 
was  to  rouse  men  to  disgust  for  the  things  which  he  analyzed, 
e.g.  the  human  body  and  mind,  it  is  surely  a  fair  reply  that  the 
instinct  of  curiosity  and  the  emotion  of  wonder  are  of  greater 
worth  to  religion  and  morality  than  the  instinct  of  repulsion 
and  the  emotion  of  disgust,  and  one  has  only  to  compare  these 
strange  analytic  passages  in  which  Buddhism  deals  with  the 
body,  with  the  reverence  and  wonder  of  the  139th  Psalm,  or 
with  the  plea  of  St.  Paul :  "Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?"  to  realize  that  in  its  desire  to  stab 
the  soul  awake,  Buddhist  teaching  is  guilty  of  the  reductio  ad 
absurdum  of  the  method  of  analysis. 

This  method  Gotama  sought  to  apply  to  practical  pur- 
pose.   In  the  first  place  he  tried  by  it  to  eradicate  anger  and 


*Digha  Nikaya,  22. 


90  Gotama  Buddha 

hatred.  "Tell  me,  friend/'  he  says  to  one  who  is  cherishing 
resentment,  "with  whom  art  thou  offended?  Is  it  with  the 
hair  of  his  head  that  thou  art  wroth,  or  with  his  finger  nails, 
or  with  any  part  of  his  physical  frame,  or  is  it  with  any  part 
of  the  elements  of  his  consciousness  that  thou  art  angry?"8 
In  the  second  place  he  applied  the  method  to  the  eradication  oi 
sex  passion : 

"Suppose  that  there  is  a  maiden  of  the  warrior  or  the 
brahmin  or  the  householder  class,  in  all  the  charm  of  her  fif- 
teen or  sixteen  summers;  not  too  tall,  not  too  short,  not  too 
slim,  not  too  stout,  not  too  dark,  not  too  fair — is  she  not  at 
this  period  at  her  very  loveliest  in  form  and  feature?  What- 
soever pleasure  and  satisfaction  arises  at  the  sight  of  this 
beauty  and  loveliness — that  is  of  the  delights  of  form.  .  .  . 

"Suppose  that,  after  a  time,  one  sees  this  same  sister  when 
she  is  eighty  or  ninety  or  a  hundred  years  old,  broken-down, 
crooked  as  a  rooftree  rafter,  bowed,  tottering  along  leaning 
on  a  staff,  wasted,  withered,  all  wrinkled  and  blotched,  with 
broken  teeth,  grey  hair,  trembling  head.  What  think  ye, 
monks?  That  former  loveliness  of  form  and  feature — has  it 
not  disappeared  and  given  place  to  wretchedness  ? 

"Again,  should  one  see  this  sister,  sick,  suffering,  sore  af- 
flicted, lying  fouled  in  her  own  filth,  lifted  up  by  others, 
tended  by  others — what  think  ye,  monks?  Is  not  that  which 
aforetime  was  beauty  and  loveliness  wholly  departed,  and  in 
its  place,  wretchedness? 

"Again,  should  one  see  this  sister  after  the  body  has 
been  lying  at  the  burial-place  one,  two,  or  three  days,  bloated, 
discolored,  putrefying,  picked  at  by  crows  and  hawks  and 
vultures,  gnawed  by  dogs  and  jackals,  and  all  manner  of 
crawling  things.  Or  should  one  see  the  body,  when  it  is  a 
mere  blood-bespattered  skeleton,  hung  with  rags  of  flesh,  or 
when  the  bones  are  all  scattered  this  way  and  that;  or  when, 
white  as  a  sea  shell,  they  are  flung  together  in  a  heap;  or 
when,  after  the  lapse  of  a  year,  they  are  all  weathered  away 
to  dust.  What  think  ye,  monks?  All  that  grace  and  beauty 
which  was  aforetime — is  it  not  wholly  fled,  and  in  its  place, 
wretchedness?    But  this  is  the  wretchedness  of  form."10 


9  Visuddhi  Magga,  IX.     Warren,  "Buddhism  in  Translations,"   p.   159. 

10  "Dialogues  of   Gotama,"   tr.   by   Silacara,   I.    Ill,    112. 


Gotama  as  Teacher  91 

May  we  not  ask  whether  such  reasoning  can  really  hope  to 
succeed  when  the  floodgates  of  passion  are  opened,  and 
whether  it  is  indeed  desirable  that  it  should?  It  is  surely 
a  radical  fault  in  the  method  of  Gotama  as  teacher  that  he 
dealt  too  summarily  with  the  natural  and  primary  instincts 
and  emotions,  which  a  great  teacher  must  sublimate  and  not 
suppress.  "There  are  two  ways  in  which  a  practical  moral- 
ist may  attempt  to  displace  from  the  human  heart  its  love  of 
the  world,  either  by  a  demonstration  of  the  world's  vanity, 
so  that  the  heart  shall  be  prevailed  upon  to  withdraw  its  re- 
gard from  an  object  which  is  not  worthy  of  it;  or  by  setting 
forth  another  object,  even  God,  as  more  worthy  of  its  at- 
tachment; so  that  the  heart  shall  be  prevailed  upon  not  to 
resign  an  old  affection  which  shall  have  nothing  to  succeed  it, 
but  to  exchange  an  old  affection  for  a  new  one."  In  these 
words,  spoken  a  hundred  years  ago,  Thomas  Chalmers  began 
his  famous  sermon,  now  chiefly  known  by  its  title,  "The  ex- 
pulsive power  of  a  new  affection."  "From  the  constitution 
of  our  nature,"  he  went  on,  "the  former  method  is  alto- 
gether incompetent  and  ineffectual  .  .  .  for  the  heart  must 
have  something  to  cling  to,  and  never  by  its  own  voluntary 
consent  will  it  so  denude  itself  of  all  its  attachments  that  there 
shall  not  be  one  remaining  object  that  can  draw  or  solicit  it. 
.  .  .  The  love  of  the  world  cannot  be  expunged  by  a  mere 
demonstration  of  the  world's  worthlessness,  but  may  it  not  be 
supplanted  by  the  love  of  that  which  is  more  worthy  than  it- 
self?" 

These  words  ring  true.  They  spring  from  a  study  of  the 
method  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  they  are  entirely  borne  out 
by  psychological  science.  Gotama  seems  to  have  ignored 
entirely  the  fact  that  there  is  a  noble  anger  and  a  noble  love 
of  woman,  and  he  dealt  too  summarily  also  with  other  in- 
stincts and  emotions.  Take,  for  example,  the  parental  in- 
stinct and  the  tender  emotion  which  accompanies  it.  Very 
early  in  his  career  the  people  of  Magadha  cried  out  that  he 
was  filling  the  land  with  widows  and  orphans,  and  while  it  is 
true  that  he  pointed  the  laity  to  lives  of  filial  piety,  yet  home 
life  he  placed  on  a  lower  plane,  considering  it  at  best  a  prep- 


92  Gotama  Buddha 

aration  for  that  higher  Order,  the  celibate  life  of  the  Sangha. 
It  may  be  urged  that  within  the  Sangha  the  parental  instinct 
was  given  free  play  in  the  care  for  the  sick  and  the  teaching 
of  other  people's  children;  it  is  true  that  Sariputta  is  de- 
scribed as  caring  specially  for  the  sick,  but  this  was  irregu- 
lar,11 and  there  is  little  evidence  to  show  that  the  Sangha  of 
those  days  were  schoolmasters  as  they  are  today  in  Burma; 
indeed,  their  wandering  life  precluded  any  regular  teaching 
of  the  young  or  any  other  systematic  philanthropy.  Bud- 
dhism in  fact  teaches  benevolence  rather  than  beneficence  on 
the  part  of  the  monk. 

Or  again,  take  the  instinct  of  pugnacity  and  the  emotion  of 
anger.  The  great  religious  teachers  whom  we  know  as  the 
"prophets"  of  Israel  sublimated  this  instinct  and  gave  to  their 
people  a  moral  equivalent  for  war  by  their  preaching  of  so- 
cial righteousness,  and  by  their  fierce  denunciation  of  the 
oppressor  and  the  extortioner;  but  righteous  anger  is  un- 
thinkable in  the  Buddhist  system.  Gotama  sought  to  sup- 
press anger  altogether  as  a  part  of  that  complex  root  of  all 
sorrow  that  he  called  Tanha.  So  often  does  he  call  for  the 
eradication  of  greed,  anger,  and  lust  that  most  Western 
writers  hold  that  he  aimed  at  the  extinction  of  all  desire,  and 
in  a  famous  passage  he  says:  "When  greed,  anger,  and  hate 
have  been  rooted  out,  then  the  actions  due  to  them  are  torn  out 
as  a  palm  tree  uprooted  from  the  soil,  and  do  not  lead  to 
future  rebirth."  "Hence,  O  Brothers,  one  may  rightly  say 
of  me,  'The  ascetic  Gotama  teaches  negation,  the  ascetic  Go- 
tama teaches  annihilation/  for  certainly,  Brothers,  I  teach  an- 
nihilation— the  annihilation  namely,  of  Greed,  the  annihila- 
tion of  Anger,  the  annihilation  of  Delusion,  as  well  as  the 
annihilation  of  the  manifold  evil,  unwholesome  conditions  of 
the  mind." 

Though  Gotama  did  not  really  aim  at  the  extinction  of  all 
desire,  but  of  all  desire  which  is  not  consistent  with  the  Bud- 
dhist system,  yet  that  covers  most  of  the  field  of  human  af- 
fection ! 

The  disciples  of  modern  Buddhism  do  not  dispute  that  it  is  a 


11  Cf.  passage  quoted  above  from  the  Tevijja  Sutta. 


Gotama  as  Teacher  93 

coldly  reasonable  system.  "It  is  true,"  says  Paul  Dalkhe, 
"that  there  breathes  about  this  system  something  of  the  cold- 
ness of  mathematics;  on  the  other  hand  there  lives  in  it  that 
purest  and  sublimest  beauty,  that  taintless  beauty,  which  be- 
longs only  to  mathematics."12  Most  of  us  will  be  forgiven 
if  the  pure  and  sublime  beauty  of  mathematics  has  eluded  us, 
and  the  parallel  is  particularly  apt,  for  whilst  the  higher  math- 
ematics do  make  their  appeal  to  a  few  peculiarly  constituted 
minds,  they  leave  the  majority  of  us  cold;  and  in  any  case  they 
are  not  a  good  substitute  for  religion !  The  modern  Buddhist 
has  to  confess  sorrowfully  that  for  the  great  bulk  of  man- 
kind, the  teachings  of  Gotama  are  too  high  and  austere.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  he  himself  realized  after  his  En- 
lightenment that  this  must  necessarily  be  so,  and  we  are 
told  that  it  took  a  visit  of  Brahma  himself  to  overcome  his 
hesitation  on  setting  forth  to  preach  his  new  doctrine.  For 
"There  are  some  whose  eyes  are  only  a  little  darkened  with 
dust,  and  they  will  perceive  the  truth."  What  if  this  dust  of 
desire  be  good  and  not  evil  ?  What  if  man  is  intended  to  be  a 
lover,  and  his  passions  and  instincts  are  part  of  that  great 
plan  of  the  universe  which  Gotama  seems  at  times  so  clearly 
to  recognize? 

Yet  though  he  dealt  summarily  with  the  emotions  he  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  a  merely  negative  teacher.  He  sought  to 
inculcate  wisdom  of  a  practical  nature,  and  to  turn  men  into 
paths  of  practical  goodness,  and  he  did  it  by  an  appeal  to  their 
reason.  This  becomes  immediately  clear  if  we  will  contrast 
the  narratives  of  the  conversion  of  some  of  the  Buddhist 
saints,  such  as  Sariputta,  with  that  of  some  of  the  saints  of 
Christianity.  Buddhist  conversion  consists  very  often  in  a 
calm  realization  that  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  is  universal 
and  that  suffering  and  transiency  are  the  law  of  the  universe. 
This  realization  Gotama  calls  the  essential  knowledge13  and 
holds  up  as  the  principle  of  life.  It  is  knowledge  of  the  four 
Noble  Truths,  and  men  have  but  to  face  the  facts  of  life  to 


""Buddhist  Essays,"  E.  T.,  p.   189. 

18  For    a   comparison    of    Buddhist   and    Christian    ideals    see   the   verses 
"St.  Francis  and  Gotama"   (Appendix  I),  and  my  "Buddhist  Ideals." 


94  Gotama  Buddha 

realize  their  truth.     So  Gotama  teaches.     Take  the  fact  of 
sorrow : 

"What  think  you,  Brothers?  Which  is  greater,  the  floods 
of  tears  which,  weeping  and  wailing  you  have  shed  upon  this 
long  way,  ever  and  again  hastening  towards  new  birth  and 
new  death,  united  to  the  undesired,  separated  from  the  de- 
sired, this,  or  the  waters  of  the  Four  Great  Seas? 

"Long  time,  Brothers,  have  you  suffered  the  death  of  a 
mother,  for  long  the  death  of  a  father,  for  long  the  death  of 
a  son,  for  long  the  death  of  a  daughter,  for  long  the  death 
of  brothers  and  sisters ;  long  time  have  ye  undergone  the  loss 
of  your  goods,  long  time  have  you  been  afflicted  with  disease. 
And  because  you  have  experienced  the  death  of  a  mother,  the 
death  of  a  father,  the  death  of  a  son,  the  death  of  a  daughter, 
the  death  of  brothers  and  sisters,  the  loss  of  goods,  the  pangs 
of  disease,  having  been  united  with  the  undesired  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  desired,  you  have  verily  shed  more  tears  upon 
this  long  way — hastening  from  birth  to  death,  from  death  to 
birth — than  all  the  waters  that  are  held  in  the  Four  Great 
Seas." 

And  if  this  be  so,  the  logical  mind  will  take  the  next  step 
and  will  show  that  all  this  sorrow  must  have  a  cause,  and  will 
be  ready  to  agree  with  Gotama  that  the  cause  of  the  suffer- 
ing is  to  be  found  in  that  clinging  to  existence,  and  that  at- 
tachment to  transient  things  like  family  affection !  But  he 
may  also  agree  with  Eben  Holden  that  "Affections  are  a 
sing'lar  kind  of  property :  No  good  f er  anything  till  ye've  gi'n 
'em  away !" 

As  to  the  third  truth,  that  the  way  to  get  rid  of  sorrow 
is  to  get  rid  of  its  cause  (tanhd),  that  also  is  logical  enough, 
and  as  to  the  Noble  Eight-Fold  Path,  high  and  austere  as  it  is, 
it  is  one  possible  road  along  which  he  who  seeks  freedom  from 
pain  may  pass. 

But  most  would  agree  that  the  system  sprang  from  a  mind 
obsessed  with  the  pain  of  life,  and  blind  to  its  many  joys. 
"Minnit  a  man  stops  lookin'  fer  trouble,"  says  Eben  Holden, 
"happiness  will  look  fer  him."  But  by  a  principle  of  selective 
attention,  Gotama  fixes  upon  the  sorrowful  things,  and  takes 
as  an  axiom  that  what  is  transient  must  needs  be  painful ! 


Gotama  as  Teacher  95 

And  we  may  trace  in  his  teachings  on  this  subject  the  perma- 
nent effects  of  a  shock  to  a  sensitive  nature  of  the  first  meet- 
ing with  old  age,  disease,  and  death,  which  is  so  vividly  re- 
corded in  the  legend  of  the  Four  Visions  which  came  to  him 
at  Kapilavatthu : 

"How  can  you  laugh,  how  can  you  feel  delight  in  earthly 
things?  Did  you  never  see  among  you  a  man  or  a  woman, 
eighty,  ninety,  or  a  hundred  years  old,  decrepit,  crooked  as  a 
gable-roof,  bowed  forward,  supported  on  a  staff,  staggering 
along  with  tottering  steps,  wretched,  youth  long  since  fled, 
toothless,  bleached  hair  hanging  in  wisps  over  the  blotched 
and  wrinkled  brow?  And  did  the  thought  never  come  to  you 
then:  'I  also  am  subject  to  Decay;  by  no  means  can  I  escape 
it'? 

"Did  you  never  see  amongst  you  men  or  women  who,  laden 
with  grievous  disease,  twisted  with  pain,  wallowed  in  their 
own  filth,  and  when  they  had  been  lifted  up,  were  obliged  to 
lie  down  again  ?  And  did  the  thought  never  come  to  you  then : 
'I  also  am  subject  to  Disease;  by  no  means  can  I  escape  it'? 

"Did  you  never  see  amongst  you  a  corpse  that  had  lain 
for  one,  two,  or  three  days,  swollen  up,  blue-black  in  color, 
a  prey  to  corruption,  and  did  the  thought  never  come  to  you 
then:  'I  also  am  subject  to  Death;  by  no  means  can  I  escape 
it'?"14 

So  it  is  today,  and  in  Buddhist  lands  the  cry  "Anicca 
Dukkha  Anatta"  rings  out  like  the  solemn  tolling  of  a  mon- 
astery bell,  calling  men  away  from  that  which  is  fleeting,  sor- 
rowful, and  without  abiding  reality. 

When  we  study  in  more  detail  the  psychological  method 
of  Buddhism,  we  find  that  there  are  seven  elements  of  En- 
lightenment (Bojjhanga)  which  are  born  of  solitude  and  de- 
tachment, and  which  lead  to  freedom;  these  are  Attentive- 
ness,  Penetrating  Insight,  Energy,  Interest,  Calmness,  Con- 
centration, and  Equanimity.  In  other  words,  the  state  of 
mind  which  is  advocated  is  one  of  concentrated  attention,  or  a 
bringing  of  the  mind  to  a  point  with  energy  and  a  calm  aloof- 
ness from  all  things  irrelevant.  Buddhist  psychology  delights 
in  classification;  thus,  in  addition  to  these  seven  elements  of 


14  Anguttara  NikSya. 


96  Gotama  Buddha 

enlightenment,  there  are  six  super-normal  sciences  to  be  at- 
tained by  Buddhist  mind  culture;  there  are  five  hindrances 
which  prevent  the  right  frame  of  mind,  and  so  on.  The  six 
Abhinna  or  super-normal  powers  that  follow  upon  the  right 
practice  of  trances  and  meditation  are: 

1.  The  power  to  produce  magical  effects  or  to  work  mir- 
acles. 

2.  The  heavenly  ear  by  which  one  can  hear  what  takes 
place  in  heaven  as  well  as  on  earth. 

3.  The  knowledge  by  which  one  sees  into  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  other  beings. 

4.  The  memory  of  previous  existences. 

5.  The  heavenly  eye  by  which  one  is  enabled  to  see  the 
causes  of  rebirth,  to  realize  why  it  is  that  some  are  born  base 
and  some  noble,  some  beautiful  and  some  ugly,  some  rich  and 
others  poor. 

6.  The  power  to  put  an  end  to  illusion  and  to  attain,  even 
in  this  life,  deliverance  through  wisdom. 

This  at  once  makes  it  clear  that  while  in  its  general  teach- 
ing Buddhism  is  simple  and  open  to  all  the  world — "One 
thing  only  do  I  teach,  O  Brothers,  suffering  and  deliverance 
from  suffering" — yet  it  is  in  these  higher  reaches  as  difficult 
and  obscure  as  any  other  system  of  mysticism,  a  religion  for 
the  virtuoso  rather  than  for  the  man  in  the  street.  The 
primitive  narratives  are  shot  through  with  these  ideas,  but 
to  see  them  fully  developed  one  must  study  the  commentaries 
of  the  schoolmen  of  Buddhism,  to  be  found  in  the  Abhidhamma 
and  especially  in  two  volumes  available  to  English  readers: 
"A  Compendium  of  Philosophy"  edited  by  the  Burmese 
scholar,  Shwe  Zan  Aung :  and  "Buddhist  Psychology"  by  Mrs. 
Rhys  Davids.  Indeed,  they  are  to  be  found  nowhere  but  in 
such  books.  By  universal  consent  the  adherents  of  Buddhism 
today,  except  perhaps  in  the  Zen  sect  of  Japan  (and  there  in 
a  very  much  modified  form),  have  given  up  seeking  to  prac- 
tice these  inner  things  of  their  religion,  and  this  fact  must  be 
weighed  as  we  try  to  estimate  the  greatness  of  Gotama  as  a 
teacher. 

When  we  contemplate  his  compassion  to  all  living  things, 
his  calm  dignity,  and  the  conviction  with  which  he  spoke, 


Gotama  as  Teacher  97 

when  we  realize  the  greatness  of  his  influence,  not  only  upon 
those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  but  upon  unnumbered 
millions  during  2,500  years,  we  cannot  but  acclaim  him 
as  one  of  the  greatest  figures  in  human  history.  Yet  the 
biographer  must  record  the  failure  as  well  as  the  success 
of  his  hero,  and  facts  must  be  faced:  there  is  something 
in  Gotama's  system  which  in  the  end  of  the  day  spells 
failure,  or  rather  it  lacks  that  one  thing  which  alone  can 
guarantee  success — a  true  idea  of  God.  He  seems  to  have 
trembled  on  the  verge  of  the  great  discovery  which  makes 
the  Hebrew  prophets  such  great  and  heroic  figures  and  which 
makes  their  teaching  immortal:  the  flaming  certainty  that 
God  is  righteous  and  loving.  But  Gotama  drew  back  from 
this  conclusion,  and  deliberately  concentrated  his  attention 
upon  man.  A  disciple  has  said  of  him,  "He  was  most  godless, 
and  yet  most  godlike."15  He  was  certainly  a  rationalist.  He 
recognized,  it  is  true,  that  there  were  gods,  and  he  even 
hinted  at  his  belief  in  a  supreme  God,  but  the  religious  leaders 
of  his  people  did  not  seem  to  know  of  a  God  at  once  supremely 
righteous  and  supremely  loving ;  the  bright  figures  of  the  Vedic 
Pantheon  were  not  such  as  he  could  worship,  and  though  for  a 
moment  Varuna  had  loomed  large  in  the  religious  mind  of 
his  people,  he  had  somehow  fallen  once  more  into  the  back- 
ground. Thus  Gotama  seems  to  have  argued:  "We  cannot 
know  the  supreme  God ;  let  us  at  any  rate  behave  as  we  may 
suppose  that  he  would  behave.  Let  us  ignore  anything  except 
humanity;  but  let  us  raise  humanity  to  the  highest  level  we 
can  discern  for  it.  If  there  is  any  way  to  union  with  Brahma 
it  is  by  way  of  kindliness  to  men/' 

But  a  true  doctrine  of  man  and  a  right  attitude  to  men  flow 
from  a  right  view  of  God !  There  is  abundant  proof  outside 
Buddhism  that  he  who  does  not  know  God  cannot  know  or 
really  love  man,  and  where  Gotama  has  failed  as  a  teacher,  it  is 
because  he  has  taken  the  sane  and  human  view  of  his  subject 
rather  than  the  romantic  and  divine !  "God,"  it  has  been  said, 
"is  incurably  romantic,"  and  it  is  only  when  we  realize  this  that 
we  know  how  to  deal  with  men.    And  so  when  we  study  the 


13  Lakshmi   Narasu,   apparently   quoting  Dr.    E.    W.    Hopkins. 


98 


Gotama  Buddha 


history  of  Buddhism  we  find  that  its  early  ethic  is  too  coldly 
reasonable,  too  severely  logical  for  human  nature.  It  may  be 
quite  reasonable  to  leave  parents,  wife,  and  child  whilst  one 
seeks  one's  own  salvation.     But  is  it  "cricket"?18 

In  the  realm  of  logic  itself  Gotama  is,  moreover,  not  entirely 
successful.  Let  us  consider  his  teaching  concerning  free 
will — a  problem  which  every  ethical  teacher  must  needs  face. 
It  is  clear  that  he  took  man's  freedom  as  axiomatic.  When 
we  find  him  dealing  with  rival  teachers,  we  note  that  he  is 
most  severe  upon  those  who  teach  a  doctrine  of  determin- 
ism. He  would  agree  with  his  follower,  Purana  Kassapa,  who 
argued  against  Ajita  of  the  Hair-Blanket,  that  his  materialist 
doctrine  destroys  all  personal  responsibility;  for  if  it  is  true 
"there  is  no  guilt  to  the  murderer,  the  thief,  and  the  adul- 
terer."17 

Concerned  as  early  Buddhism  was  with  morality,  it  must 
combat  any  doctrine  which  imperiled  a  sense  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility; yet  Gotama  at  times  himself  came  perilously  near 
to  determinism,  and  we  must  needs  test  his  work  as  a  teacher 
by  the  consistency  and  sanity  of  his  handling  of  this  central 
problem.  The  problem  of  Karma  as  he  found  it  in  India  was 
a  mathematical  doctrine  of  retribution  and  reward:  "As  a 
man  soweth  so  shall  he  reap"  either  in  this  world  or  in  his 
next  rebirth,  and  he  reaps  not  only  happiness  or  sorrow,  but 
also  the  dispositions  which  make  for  happiness  or  sorrow. 
Gotama  accepted  all  this;  according  to  his  teaching,  Kamma, 
as  he  called  the  doctrine,  "explains  everything  that  concerns 
'the  world  of  living  beings'  (Sattvaloka) ,  inhabitants  of  hell, 
animals,  ghosts,  men,  and  gods ;  the  power  of  gods  and  kings, 
the  physical  beauty  of  women,  the  splendid  tail  of  peacocks, 
the  moral  dispositions  of  everyone."18  Is  man  then  free  ?  Yes, 
for  destiny  is  the  power  of  one's  own  actions:  these  are  at 


18  Cf.  the  typical  sentiment  of  an  early  Bhikkhu:  "I  have  vomited  forth  all 
desires,  loves,  hates.  For  my  own  sake  have  I  done  so,  not  for  any 
others'  sake."   Theragatha. 

First  get  rid  of  egoism,  then  you  will  have  room  for  altruism — is  the 
logic  of  these  early  days.  Only  later  did  Buddhists  realize  that  the  second 
is  the  way  to  the  first. 

17  "Dialogues  of  Gotama  Buddha,"  I.  71-73. 

18  De  la  Vallee  Poussin,  "The  Way  to  Nirvana,"  p.  94. 


Gotama  as  Teacher  99 

once  "man's  inheritance,  the  womb  which  bears  him,  and  the 
refuge  to  which  he  must  resort."19  Yet  each  action  is  pre- 
determined by  disposition,  and  disposition  is  predetermined 
by  past  action — largely  yet  not  wholly;  there  is  still  a  loop- 
hole for  free  will.  By  "a  most  happy  contradiction"  Go- 
tama accepts  the  doctrine  that  "what  we  have  been  makes  us 
what  we  are,"  but  keeps  attached  to  it  the  doctrine  that  we 
are  free  to  do  good,  for  he  is  really  more  physician  than 
mathematician,  and  what  really  matters  is  that  we  should 
strive  with  energy  to  combat  whatever  works  against  vir- 
tue, whether  our  own  inherited  disposition  or  our  evil  en- 
vironment. As  we  have  seen,  he  was  led  to  reject  any  theory 
of  a  transmigrating  soul,  and  any  doctrine  of  an  "over-soul" 
in  which  it  must  one  day  be  merged :  for  he  wanted  to  throw 
upon  man  himself  the  responsibility  for  his  own  actions,  and 
to  convince  him  at  any  price  that  he  must  work  out  his  own 
salvation;  the  direction  of  each  "stream"  is  self-determined; 
even  if  the  "undercurrent"  from  the  past  be  very  strong  and 
seem  at  times  to  exert  an  overwhelming  force. 

This,  his  doctrine  of  Kamma,  is  "the  root  of  morality,"  and 
if  we  cannot  convince  ourselves  that  he  succeeded  in  recon- 
ciling the  claims  of  free  will  with  those  of  predetermination, 
his  followers  would  reply,  "His  purpose  was  not  to  teach 
metaphysics  but  to  inculcate  strenuous  morality;  and,  besides, 
other  teachers  of  ethics  are  equally  open  to  criticism.  Go- 
tama is  not  the  only  moralist  who  had  failed  to  reconcile  these 
claims." 

We  agree.  Short  of  the  solution  of  Jesus  that  there  is  a 
divine  grace  yearning  to  help  us  overcome  the  tremendous 
forces  of  heredity  and  environment  which  are  too  often 
ranged  against  us — that  the  Righteous  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
has  a  Father's  heart,  and  that  He  who  sets  man  his  prob- 
lem is  anxious  to  help  him  to  solve  it — short  of  this,  there 
is  no  solution  yet  offered  to  mankind.  And  Christians  will 
be  very  gentle  with  the  Buddhist  solution  when  they  con- 
sider that  some  even  of  their  fellow-Christians  are  content 
to  be  agnostic  like  Gotama  as  to  any  ultimate  reconciliation 


Majjhima  NikHya,  III.  203. 


ioo  Gotama  Buddha 

between  free  will  and  predestination.  If  Gotama  did  not 
succeed  in  a  logical  solution,  he  attempted  to  base  his  ethical 
system  on  reason  and  did  succeed  in  effecting  in  his  own  con- 
duct a  practical  combination  of  benevolence  and  self-interest — 
a  benevolence  which  whilst  it  is  self -regarding  is  not  selfish, 
and  which  while  it  is  based  on  reason  avoids  calculation. 

Cold  and  mathematical  as  is  the  ethic  of  Gotama,  yet 
through  it  there  gleams  the  wintry  sunshine  of  a  higher  and 
more  passionate  teaching:  he  seems  at  times  to  realize  that 
one  emotion  can  only  be  cast  out  by  another.  "Never  by  hate 
does  hatred  cease:  by  kindness  only  does  it  cease,"  says  the 
Dhammapada,  and  side  by  side  with  a  reasonable  self-culture 
goes  a  reasoned  benevolence.  Perhaps  we  may  express  it 
thus :  The  ethic  of  Gotama  is  like  a  radiant  butterfly  just  strug- 
gling out  of  the  chrysalis.  One  wing  is  quite  free — the  wing 
of  Wisdom ;  one  is  still  only  partially  disentangled — the  wing 
of  Love  or  Benevolence. 

In  the  Majjhima  Nikaya  there  is  a  discourse  entitled  "The 
Saw"  which  is  much  less  stereotyped  and  formal  than  many 
of  the  discourses,  and  contains  some  admirable  illustrations 
which  are  full  of  quaint  humor.  The  occasion  of  it  was  that 
one  of  the  leaders  had  become  closely  associated  with  the  nuns, 
and  when  people  spoke  slightingly  of  them  used  to  get  very 
angry.  Gotama  sent  for  him.  Very  gently  he  showed  him 
that  a  true  follower  of  the  Good  Law  must  remain  kindly  and 
compassionate  whatever  people  say  about  him.  This  friendly 
spirit,  he  urged,  must  be  cultivated,  just  as  the  sapling  must 
be  trained;  and  went  on  to  tell  the  story  of  a  housewife 
named  Vedehika,  who  had  a  great  name  for  goodness  and 
kindness,  but  whose  serving-maid  Kali  had  succeeded  in  so 
trying  her  patience  with  deliberate  intent  to  prove  her  that 
she  came  out  of  the  affair  with  a  broken  head,  and  the  rumor 
quickly  spread,  "The  Mistress  Vedehika  is  a  perfect  fury,  a 
shrew,  a  termagant." 

"In  the  selfsame  way,  disciples,  a  certain  monk  may  be  very, 
very  kind,  very,  very  gentle,  very,  very  quiet,  so  long  as  no 
unpleasant  words  are  uttered  touching  him.    When,  however, 


Gotama  as  Teacher  101 

people  begin  to  say  unpleasant  things  of  that  monk — then 
is  the  time  to  see  if  the  monk  is  kind,  then  it  is  to  be  seen 
if  the  monk  is  gentle,  then  it  is  to  be  seen  if  he  is  quiet." 

What  then  is  to  be  done  with  those  who  speak  unkindly  of 
us?  We  are  to  "permeate  them  with  a  stream  of  loving 
thought,"  and  so  we  are  to  act  towards  the  whole  world. 
After  sundry  illustrations  the  discourse  ends  with  these  fine 
words : 

"Yea,  disciples,  even  if  highway  robbers  with  a  two-handed 
saw  shall  take  and  dismember  you  limb  by  limb,  whoso  grow 
darkened  in  mind  thereby  would  not  be  fulfilling  my  injunc- 
tions. Even  then,  disciples,  thus  must  you  school  yourselves: 
'Unsullied  shall  our  minds  remain,  neither  shall  evil  word  es- 
cape our  lips.  Kind  and  compassionate  ever,  we  will  abide 
loving  of  heart  nor  harbor  secret  hate.  And  those  robbers 
will  we  permeate  with  stream  of  loving  thought  unfailing; 
and  forth  from  them  proceeding,  enfold  and  permeate  the 
whole  wide  world  with  constant  thoughts  of  loving  kindness, 
ample,  expanding,  measureless,  free  from  enmity,  free  from 
all  ill  will  I'  Yea,  verily,  thus,  my  disciples,  thus  must  you 
school  yourselves. 

"And  this  admonition  of  the  Parable  of  the  Saw  see  that 
you  call  it  to  mind  again  and  again.  Know  you,  disciples, 
aught  subtle  or  simple  in  this  teaching  of  ours  which  you 
should  not  accept  ? 

"  'Nay  indeed,  Lord  !' 

"Wherefore,  disciples,  again  and  again  refresh  your  minds 
with  this  admonition  of  the  Parable  of  the  Saw.  Long  will 
it  make  for  your  happiness  and  well-being."20 

For  as  the  mongoose  is  immune  from  the  poison  of  the 
snake  because  he  has  been  inoculated  with  it  in  small  doses, 
even  so,  teaches  Gotama  the  physician,  must  the  monk  dwell- 
ing amidst  hate  and  anger  inoculate  himself  with  the  divine 
antitoxin  of  benevolence.21 

"As  in  the  last  month  of  the  autumn  rains  when  the  sky  is 
clear  and  the  clouds  are  gone,  the  great  Sun  climbs  the 
vault  of  heaven,  pervading  all  space  with  his  radiance,  so 


20  "Discourses,"  tr.   by   Silacara,   I.    xxi. 

21  Milinda  Panha,  VII.  6. 


102  Gotama  Buddha 

good  will  (mettam)  glows  radiant  above  all  other  virtues: 
yea,  it  is  as  the  morning  star."22 

When  all  is  said  it  was  by  the  living  embodiment  of  this 
divine  quality  of  good  will  that  Gotama  won  the  hearts  of 
his  people.  If  today  he  does  not  always  command  our  in- 
tellectual assent  we  should  be  churls  indeed  if  we  refused  to 
him  our  love  and  gratitude. 

Gotama  is  himself  a  morning  star  of  good  will  heralding 
the  Sun  of  Love. 


Itivuttaka,  27. 


APPENDIX  I 

ST.  FRANCIS  AND  GOTAMA 

"Childlike,  thou  sayest,  is  the  friend  of  God? 

Such  love  he  asks  from  man  as  lovers  use, 

Making  of  love  the  path  to  happiness? 

Fond  is  such  love;  for  Death  and  Sorrow  dog 

The  bliss  of  lovers  and  Delusion  blinds. 

To  tear  Delusion's  veil  and  find  Release, 

To  purge  the  heart  of  passionate  Desire 

That  binds  him  darkling  to  the  Wheel  of  Life — 

Such  is  the  Path  of  Wisdom,  such  the  staff 

For  full-grown  man  to  lean  on,  and  escape 

From  all  the  woe  and  pity  of  the  world. 

Not  Love  but  Wisdom  is  the  remedy : 

Not  children  we,  but  men  upon  the  rack !" 

Thus  Gotama,  whom  in  a  dream  I  saw 

Hold  high  communion  with  Assisi's  Saint, 

Francis,  that  passionate  lover  of  his  Lord 

And  of  his  little  brethren.    Laughingly 

The  Ocean  laved  their  feet,  and  round  about 

The  patient  simple  beasts  stood  listening. 

"Nay  but,"  quoth  Francis,  "God  our  Lord  on  High 

Of  us  his  brethren  is  not  gotten  else 

Save  only  by  such  Love,  so  only  held: 

By  wisdom  never  nor  enlightenment! 

Therefore  in  Love  is  highest  wisdom  found; 

For  losing  God,  what  profiteth  the  World? 

The  power  of  Love  thou  knowest,  and  hast  sung, 

Who  for  it  spurned  the  love  of  power  and  pomp, 

Taking  for  bride  our  sister  Poverty. 

And  living  in  gentleness  with  man  and  beast, 

Thou  did'st  reveal  to  men  the  life  of  God, 

Whose  Heart  is  all  compassion,  and  His  name 

Is  Love;  to  whom  man's  Wisdom  seemeth  fond. 

For  love  responds  to  love  as  lute  to  touch 


104  Gotama  Buddha 

And  loveless  wisdom  is  a  stringless  lute. 

Such  Wisdom  passeth,  Love  alone  abides 

Amidst  the  change  and  chance  of  fleeting  things." 

"Fleeting  indeed !    And  like  a  painted  gaud, 

Or  some  mirage  that  lures  the  thirsty  soul 

'Mid  desert  ways  under  the  fierce  sun's  eye, 

Is  this  dark  world.    All  passes,  naught  abides; 

Nor  Love  nor  Wisdom.    Therefore  let  the  wise 

Escape,  and  find  elsewhere  abiding  peace, 

Nibbana's  peace  that  naught  can  take  away, 

Surcease  of  suffering  and  lust  and  all. 

Thou  speakest  of  God;  if  He  be  anywhere 

'Tis  truly  where  Love  rules  the  hearts  of  men: 

Yet  Love  not  blind,  as  children  and  lovers  use, 

But  clear-eyed,  purged  of  passion,  pitiful 

And  yet  serene,  nor  suffering  itself 

By  any  strain  of  human  woe  or  sin 

To  lose  its  own  calm  lofty  pinnacle. 

Such  pity  seeth  man  as  bound  and  racked 

Upon  the  Wheel  of  Fate,  and  calls  him  'Fool !' 

If  God  there  be  so  must  He  view  the  World, 

And  pitying  contrive  a  swift  release: 

For  less  are  all  the  waters  of  the  sea 

Than  all  the  weary  waste  of  human  tears. 

Could  Love  create  and  bind  us  to  the  Wheel? 

Strange  God — the  source  of  endless  misery ! 

Should  He  not  suffer  for  the  world  He  made, 

As  man  doth  suffer  for  his  lighter  sin? 

All  suffer,  all  hate  suffering,  all  alike 

May  win  escape  by  wise  self-mastery! 

Thus  have  I  taught,  and  so  my  followers  teach 

(That  ancient  Knighthood  of  the  Yellow  Robe 

Which  doth  endure  when  Kings  and  Emperors  pass) 

This  is  the  central  truth  of  suffering, 

Pervading  all  as  salt  pervades  the  sea. 

The  gods,  if  any  gods  there  be,  are  dumb ! 

Strive  on,  and  master  self  and  win  release!" 

"In  self-forgetf ulness  is  higher  Wisdom  hid, 
In  self -surrender,  not  self-mastery ! 
To  high  adventure  in  the  cause  of  Love 
God  calls;  to  seek  release  were  cowardice. 


St.  Francis  and  Gotama  105 

He  sets  us  in  this  weary  world  of  pain 

To  make  it  glad  with  joy  and  love  and  song. 

Thou  askest  of  the  nature  of  our  God: 

In   strength  made  perfect   in  humility 

See  inmost  Godhead  perfectly  revealed; 

There  is  the  abiding  source  of  peace  and  joy. 

Learn  this,  my  Brother,  suffering  is  a  boon; 

The  pains  of  Love  are  worth  all  pleasures  else. 

Whom  most  God  honors,  most  He  gives  to  love 

And  with  most  love  gives  power  to  suffer  most! 

In  sufferance  is  His  Majesty  made  plain, 

His  power  most  mighty  when  His  heart  doth  break; 

For  so  alone  doth  man,  o'ercome  by  Love, 

Find  strength  to  conquer  pride  and  lust  and  wrath, 

Arming  himself  in  Love's  strong  panoply. 

So  only  is  he  reconciled  to  God 

And  purged  his  heart  of  bitter  enmity ! 

To  conquer  self,  man  needs  must  die  to  self, 

And  Love  alone  may  find  the  secret  path 

That  leads  through  pain  to  blest  communion. 

God  suffereth,  Brother,  as  thou  sayest  He  must: 

On  Calvary  see  His  breaking  heart  laid  bare !" 

So  spake  these  holy  ones,  rapt  from  the  world 

Of  sense  and  time,  in  whom  the  spirit  strove, 

Conquering  the  frail  worn  flesh:  their  eyes, 

Seeing  eternal  verities,  shone  full  of  joy. 

Yet  diverse  seemed  the  joy  I  saw  revealed 

In  these  two  heroes  of  the  way  of  pain 

My  soul  had  reverenced  long  and  now  beheld. 

The  eyes  of  Francis  glowed  with  radiant  light 

As   seeing   Him   who   is   invisible, 

And  filled  with  love  for  man  and  beast  and  all 

This  beauteous  world  which  is  his  blazonry. 

Siddhattha's  eye  was  calm  and  glad,  yet  lit 

With  somber  joy  and  sorrowful  content, 

As  who  should  say,  "The  world  is  but  a  snare; 

What  matter?     It  is  nought  to  me  and  mine!" 

So  sate  these  two  physicians  of  the  soul, 

Pondering  the  Gospel  each  had  found  and  proved. 

And  then  I  think  God  whispered  in  the  ear 
Of  His  beloved:  turning  him  to  song 


106  Gotama  Buddha 

Swifter  to  heal  than  weightiest  argument, 

For  never  was  a  reed  more  simple  and  straight 

For  Him  to  fill  with  Heaven's  harmony. 

He  sang  of  all  God's  creatures:  Sun  and  Moon 

And  of  the  joyful  choir  of  the  Stars 

Which  tell  aloud  the  praises  of  their  Lord, 

And  hymn  Him  ever  to  the  listening  spheres. 

He  sang  of  water  who  is  pleasant,  and  of  rain 

Who  comforts  and  replenishes  the  earth, 

Making  her  sing  in  praise  antiphonal: 

Of  birds  and  beasts,  his  little  brethren  too, 

Who  in  their  joyance  praise  the  Source  of  Joy, 

And  by  their  living  hymn  the  Lord  of  Life, 

Till  all  His  World  is  filled  with  minstrelsy. 

Then  as  the  silver  melody  thrilled  on, 

Rising  like  water  in  a  clear  pure  jet 

To  Heaven,  I  saw  Siddhattha  smile,  and  joy 

Light  up  the  deep-set  cavern  of  his  eyes: 

"I,  too,"  he  sang,  "have  loved  the  teeming  earth, 

And  sought  to  spare  my  little  brothers  pain 

Even  to  the  least,  yea,  even  to  the  brood  of  snakes 

For  they  too  cherish  the  warm  life  within. 

Even  as  a  mother's  love  enfolds  her  son, 

Her  only  son,  with  tender  watchful  care, 

So,  through  the  world  let  thy  compassion  move 

Deep  and  pervading  as  the  encompassing  sea. 

So  far  I  knew — but  now  I  know  indeed 

That  Love  hath  depths  beyond  our  mortal  ken 

And  highest  Wisdom  is  in  Love  revealed. 

O  Maitri  I1  whom  far  off  I  saw  and  loved, 

In  very  Christ  I  find  thee,  and  adore ! 

O  Love  of  God  that  taught  me  how  to  love 

Unknown,  unrecognized,  yet  now  made  plain ! 

O  Holy  One !     O  suffering  Godhead,  Thou 

Whose  Love  encompasses  Thy  children  all, 

O  Fount  of  Love,  O  Mother-Heart  divine; 

On  Thee  I  lay  the  age-long  weight  of  pain, 

The  woe  of  all  this  laden  laboring  world, 

And  at  Thy  feet  my  emptied  self  I  bow : 

For  self  is  helpless  till  Thou  mak'st  it  thine." 


1  The  coming  Buddha  whom  Gotama  foretold,  calling  him  Maitri,   which 
means  Love,  and  prophesying  his  power  to  bring  men  to  righteousness. 


St.  Francis  and  Gotama  107 

Then  as  I  waked  I  thought  high  Heaven  pealed 

With  glad  acclaim,  and  all  creation  sang, 

Giving  to  God  the  glory  and  the  praise 

Of  this  last  miracle  His  Grace  had  wrought : 

And  angel  hosts  on  high  sang  Francis'  song, 

Whilst  these  two  radiant  souls  passed  through  the  veil. 


APPENDIX  II 

NOTES  ON  NIBBANA 

Dr.  Paul  Oltramare  thus  summarizes  the  arguments  which 
must  be  weighed  in  arriving  at  a  true  idea  of  what  Gotama 
taught : 

1.  There  can  only  be  an  'ego'  if  there  is  sensation,  or  con- 
tact of  the  conscious  subject  with  an  object. 

2.  Whoso  maintains  that  death  leaves  in  existence  an  ego 
endowed  with  perception  fails  to  free  the  soul  from  dualism, 
and  so  denies  salvation.  (For  Buddhism  takes  as  axiomatic 
that  what  is  made  up  of  Skandhas,  or  component  parts,  is 
transient,  and  that  what  is  transient  is  sorrowful.) 

3.  Whoso  maintains  that  death  puts  an  end  to  perception, 
but  leaves  in  existence  an  ego  denuded  of  perception  affirms 
the  impossible,  for  consciousness  is  bound  up  with  the  other 
Skandhas,  or  aggregates. 

4.  Whoso  maintains  that  after  death  the  ego  persists,  en- 
dowed with  something  which  is  neither  perception  nor  non- 
perception,  imagines  that  whilst  he  is  still  in  the  phenomenal 
world  he  can  attain  to  that  which  is  not  attained  by  the  senses 
nor  by  reasoning.  If  we  think  of  perception  we  think  of 
something  compound,  therefore  transient ;  if  we  think  of  non- 
perception  we  think  of  a  kind  of  stupor. 

5.  Since  it  is  impossible  in  this  life  to  prove  the  existence 
of  the  saint,  it  is  a  damnable  heresy  to  say  that  he  is  anni- 
hilated by  death.  Skandhas  which  go  to  make  up  the  com- 
pound being  we  know  in  this  life.  Is  he  the  sensation  or  the 
bodily  form,  etc.,  etc.? 

6.  Lastly,  if  it  is  heresy  to  affirm  the  existence  of  a  soul,  it 
is  also  heresy  to  deny  it ;  these  two  opinions  are  equally  wrong 
and  fatal.     (Le  M  us  eon  1917.) 


Notes  on  Nibbana  109 

Some  key  passages  for  the  study  of  the  whole  subject  are: 
Dlgha  Nikaya,  Vol.  I,  p.  67,  where  it  is  shown  that  without 
sensation  there  can  be  no  ego:  Samyutta  Nikaya,  Vol.  3,  p. 
109,  etc.,  where  Sariputta  convinces  the  heretic  Yamaka  that 
even  in  this  life  one  cannot  very  well  prove  the  existence  of 
the  saint:  Majjhima  Nikaya,  Vol.  2,  p.  229,  and  many  other 
passages  quoted  in  Oldenberg's  "Buddha,"  E.  T.,  pp.  427-445. 
There  is  further  a  collection  of  synonyms  of  Nibbana,  col- 
lected in  metrical  form,  and  current  amongst  southern  Bud- 
dhists. 

Here  it  is  described  as  the  Extinction  of  Lust  (Tanhak- 
khayo)  and  the  Destruction  of  Desire  (Virago)  ;  as  an  Island 
and  Refuge  (Dipo  and  Lenam) ;  as  Ambrosia  and  Bliss 
(Amatam  and  Sivam)  ;  as  the  Eternal  and  Simple  (Dhuvam, 
anantam  and  asamkhatam)  ;  as  the  Cessation  of  the  Process 
of  Becoming  and  the  Ending  of  all  Sorrow  and  Disease 
(Dukkhakkhaya;  avyapajjham)  ;  as  Escape  from  Infatua- 
tion and  the  Attainment  of  Freedom  and  Purity  (Apavaggo, 
yogakkhemo,  mutti,  vimutti  and  suddhi). 

My  friend,  the  Sinhalese  Pundit  Wagiswara,  thus  sum- 
marized for  me  his  views  of  Nibbana:  "The  extinction  of  lust 
is  the  means  to  the  extinction  of  the  process  of  becoming, 
which  is  the  end" ;  and  he  explains  the  use  of  such  positive 
terms  as  "happiness"  and  "calm"  by  saying  that  they  are 
only  used  relatively:  Nibbana  is  like  the  blowing  out  of  a 
lamp;  it  is  happy  because  it  is  not  miserable;  it  is  calm  be- 
cause it  is  not  restless;  it  is  rest  because  it  is  different  from 
the  flux  and  change  which  we  know  here.  Asked  what  is 
the  unique  thing  in  Buddhist  ethics,  he  replied:  "The  teach- 
ing about  sorrow  and  the  destruction  of  sorrow."  And  what 
is  the  unique  thing  in  Buddhist  metaphysics,  he  replied :  "The 
teaching  of  Anatta,  that  is,  that  there  is  no  self  or  soul  in 
the  usually  accepted  sense."  He  and  the  late  "High  Priest" 
of  Ceylon,  Sri  Sumangala,  are  both  to  be  reckoned  as  cham- 
pions of  the  view  expounded  above:  that  Nibbana  is  the 
cessation  of  the  flux  of  becoming  that  we  know  here.  The 
present  "High  Priest,"  who  is  less  of  a  metaphysician,  seems 
to  believe  that  it  is  a  continued  state  of  existence,  only  more 


no  Gotama  Buddha 

blissful  than  what  we  know  as  existence  in  this  life.  The 
Buddhist  world  is  divided  between  these  conflicting  theories. 
As  a  practicable  ideal  Nibbdna  no  longer  interests  it. 


APPENDIX  III 

TWO  IDEALS  IN  THE  PALI  BOOKS 

A.  The  Ideal  of  the  Arhat  (very  thoroughly  worked  out 

and  typical  of  almost  the  whole  tipitika). 

1.  Even  for  great  benefit  to  another  let  no  man  imperil 

his  own  benefit.     (Dhammapada  166.) 

2.  When  the  wise  man  has  driven  out  ignorance  by  zeal, 

and  climbed  the  terraced  heights  of  wisdom,  he  looks 
down  on  the  vain  world ;  and  himself  free  from  care 
beholds  the  care-worn,  as  one  standing  upon  the 
mountain-top  and  gazing  serenely  upon  the  toilers 
in  the  plains.     {Dhammapada.) 

3.  O  monks,  as  a  man  carried  away  by  the  current  of  a 

pleasant  river  is  seen  by  one  standing  on  the  bank, 
so  is  man  in  the  flooded  river  of  desire.  And  as  one 
standing  on  the  bank  who  cries,  "Ho  there !  the  river 
may  seem  pleasant,  but  below  it  is  a  lake  with  rapids 
and  crocodiles,"  so  is  the  Blessed  One  who  stands 
upon  the  bank,  warning  men  that  death  or  misery 
await  them.  And  the  flooded  river  is  evil  desire,  the 
lake  is  the  sensual  life,  its  waves  are  anger,  its  rapids 
are  lust,  its  crocodiles  are  women-folk/'  (Itivuttaka, 
109.) 

B.  The  Germ  of  the  Bodhisattva  Ideal  (just  beginning  to 

develop). 
1.    "  As  recking  naught  of  self,  a  mother's  love 
Enfolds  and  cherishes  her  only  son, 
So  through  the  world  let  thy  compassion  move, 
And  compass  living  creatures  every  one." 

(Suit a  Nipata.) 


ii2  Gotama  Buddha 

2.  For  the  beautiful  story  of  Vessantara,  see  "The  Heart 

of  Buddhism." 

A  Dialogue 

3.  Gautama: 

"But  O  Punna,  the  men  of  that  country  are  violent, 
cruel  and  savage.     When  they  become  angry  at  thee 
and  do  thee  harm,  what  wilt  thou  think  then?" 
Punna : 

"I  shall  think  that  they  are  truly  good  and  kind  folk, 
for  whilst  they  speak  angry  and  insolent  words,  they 
refrain  from  striking  or  stoning  me." 

Gautama  : 

"They  are  very  violent  folk,  Punna.     What  if  they 
strike  thee  or  stone  thee?" 
Punna: 

"I  shall  think  them  kind  and  good  not  to  smite  me 
with  staff  or  sword." 
Gautama  : 

"And  if  they  do  so?" 
Punna: 

"I  shall  think  them  kind  and  good  not  to  kill  me." 
Gautama  : 

"And  if  they  do  kill  thee,  what  then?" 
Punna: 

I  shall  think  them  kind  and  good  who  free  me  from 
this  vile  body  with  so  little  pain." 
Gautama  : 

"Well  said,  Punna,  well  said !  Thou  with  thy  great 
gift  of  patience  mayest  indeed  essay  this  task.  Go, 
Punna;  saved  thyself,  save  others.  Comforted  thyself, 
comfort  others.  Having  arrived  at  the  farther  shore 
and  reached  Nibbana,  do  thou  guide  others  to  its 
safety."  (Samyutta  IV,  p.  60,  and  Majjihima  iii.  267. 
Quoted  by  De  la  Vallee  Poussin  in  Bouddhisme:  Opin- 
ions, pp.  267-270.) 


Two  Ideals  in  the  Pali  Books         113 

That  the  Mahay  ana  developed  this  second  ideal  and 
attacked  the  first  is  to  its  credit,  even  if  it  was  not  al- 
ways fair  in  its  criticisms.  But  when  the  passion  of 
controversy  is  aroused  and  men  are  choosing  between 
life  and  death  they  cannot  be  wholly  academic ! 


A  New  Christian  Literature  for  India 

TO  PRODUCE  literature  on  the  religions  and  the  civili- 
zation of  India  which  shall  be  fully  loyal  to  Christ  and 
His  Kingdom,  on  the  one  hand,  and  faithful  to  the  ideals  of 
the  highest  scholarship,  on  the  other,  is  the  purpose  which 
moves  the  writers  of  the  following  books.  In  investigating 
the  things  of  India  and  bringing  them  into  relation  to  the 
teaching  and  the  work  of  Christ,  they  wish  to  work  in  the 
truth-seeking  and  sympathetic  spirit  of  the  best  science  of 
today. 

I.     THE  RELIGIOUS  QUEST  OF  INDIA  SERIES 

EDITORS: 
T.  N.  Farquhar,  M.A.,  D.Litt.    (Oxon.): 
H.   D.   Griswold,   M.A.,  Ph.D. 

1.  Indian  Theism  ......     $2.40 

By  Nicol  Macnicol,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

2.  The  Heart  of  Jainism       .....       3.00 

By  Mrs.   Sinclair  Stevenson,  M.A.,   Sc.D. 

3.  The  Treasure  of  the  Magi       ....       3.40 

By  James  Hope  Moulton,  D.Litt.,  D.D.,  D.C.L. 

4.  Redemption,  Hindu  and  Christian  .         .         .       5.25 

By  Sydney  Cave,  M.A.,  D.D. 

5.  An  Outline  of  the  Religious  Literature  of  India 

By  J.  N.  Farquhar,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

Nearly  Ready 

The  Rites  of  the  Twice-Born 

By  Mrs.  Sinclair  Stevenson,  M.A.,  Sc.D. 
II.     THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  OF  INDIA  SERIES 

This  Series  deals  with  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  sects 
and   the   Outcaste  communities. 

EDITORS: 
T.   N.   Farquhar,   M.A.,   D.Litt. 
rsicol   Macnicol,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

1.  The  Village  Gods  of  South  India  .         .         .     $1.00 

By  the  Bishop  of  Madras. 

2.  The  Ahmadiya  Movement         ....       1.60 

By  H.  A.  Walter,  M.A.,  Lahore. 

Nearly  Ready 

The  Chamars 

By  G.  W.  Briggs,  M.A.,  Allahabad. 


III.     THE  HERITAGE  OF  INDIA  SERIES 

This  Series  deals  with  the  best  things  in  Indian  civilization 
in  a  scholarly   and  sympathetic  way. 

EDITORS: 
The  Right  Rev.  A.  S.  Azariah,  Bishop  of  Dornakal. 
J.   N.   Farquhar,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 
Price,  $1.15  each. 

1.  The  Heart  of  Buddhism 

(Translations  from  Buddhist  verse.) 
By  K.  J.   Saunders,  M.A. 

2.  Asoka 

(A  biography  of  the  great  Buddhist  Emperor.) 
By  J.  M.   Macphail,  M.A.,   M.D. 

3.  Indian  Painting 

By  Percy  Brown. 

4.  Kanarese  Literature 

By  E.  P.  Rice,  B.A. 

5.  The  Samkhya  System 

By  A.   Berriedale  Keith,  M.A.,  D.C.L.,  D.Litt. 

6.  Psalms  of  the  Maratha  Saints 

By  Nicol  Macnicol,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

Ntarly  Ready 

Hymns  of  the  Tamil  Saivite  Saints 

By  F.  Kingsbury,  B.A.,  and  G.  E.  Phillips,  M.A.,  Bangalore. 

IV.     INDIVIDUAL  VOLUMES 

The  Story  of  Buddhism  .....     $1.40 

(An  historical  outline.) 
By  K.  J.   Saunders,  M.A. 

A  Primer  of  Hinduism 1.40 

(An  historical  outline.) 
By  J.  N.  Farquhar,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

The  Crown  of  Hinduism       .....       1.40 

(The  relation  of  Christianity  to  Hinduism.) 
By  J.  N.  Farquhar,  M.A.,  D.Litt. 

Modern  Religious  Movements  in  India  .         .         .       2.50 

By  J.  N.  Farquhar,   M.A.,  D.Litt. 

Ancient  Indian  Education   .....       2.00 

By  F.  E.  Keay,  M.A. 


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